The Retirement Practice Council’s Social Security and Retirement Policy and Design Evaluation committees sent a joint comment letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions regarding portable benefits for self-employed workers and other individuals in nontraditional working arrangements.

The Retirement Practice Council and Pension Committee responded to a request for information (RFI) by the majority staff of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee regarding ways to bolster the defined benefit pension system.

The Pension Committee submitted comments to the Actuarial Standards Board regarding the proposed revision of Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) No. 12, Risk Classification (for All Practice Areas).

The Pension Committee and Multiemployer Plans Committee responded to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) request for comments regarding the proposed rule on Valuation Assumptions and Methods.

The Pension Committee submitted comments in response to the Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration’s (EBSA) Request for Information on a number of SECURE 2.0 provisions that impact the reporting and disclosure framework of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

Academy Senior Life Fellow Nancy Bennett and Paul Navratil, chairperson of the Life Investment and Capital Adequacy Committee, presented to the U.S. Department of Labor’s ERISA Advisory Council public meeting on pension risk transfers on July 18. They gave an overview of life insurance regulations focused on the regulatory framework governing solvency requirements, including the establishment of liabilities and required capital for benefit obligations that are the result of a pension risk transfer. Additionally, the Academy submitted the Pension Committee’s recent issue brief, Buy-Out Group Annuity  Purchase Primer, for the meeting record as a resource on “buy-out” annuity contract transactions from a pension actuarial perspective.

Comments from the Pension Committee, Multiemployer Plans Committee, and Public Plans Committee to the Actuarial Standards Board regarding the exposure draft of the proposed revision of Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) No. 27, Selection of Assumptions for Measuring Pension Obligations  and the repeal of ASOP No. 35, Selection of Demographic and Other Noneconomic Assumptions for Measuring Pension Obligations.

Social Security Committee open letter to Congress introducing the Social Security Challenge, an interactive reform simulation to support the public dialogue on Social Security solvency.

Multiemployer Plans Committee letter to Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) advancing ideas regarding the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) application process for non-priority plans.

Multiemployer Plans Committee comment letter to Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) submitted in response to PBGC’s request for information on its proposed rule regarding a withdrawing employer's liability under a multiemployer plan.