2006 National Summit on Retirement Savings; Request for
Information
[06/09/2005]
Volume 70, Number 110, Page 33763-33764
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employee Benefits Security Administration
2006 National Summit on Retirement Savings; Request for
Information
AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Notice of Request for Information.
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SUMMARY: This document requests comments from the public for the
purpose of developing a comprehensive agenda for the third National
Summit on Retirement Savings (2006 National Summit), tentatively
planned to be convened in early March, 2006. The 2006 National Summit
is called for by the Savings Are Vital To Everyone's Retirement (SAVER)
Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105-92). The first National Summit was held on
June 4-5, 1998, and the second Summit was held on February 28-March 1,
2002, both in Washington, DC.
DATES: Written comments on suggestions for the agenda for the 2006
National Summit on Retirement Savings must be received by July 5, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Written comments (preferably three copies) should be sent to
the Office of Participant Assistance, Employee Benefits Security
Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-5623 200 Constitution
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210. Attention: ``2006 National Summit on
Retirement Savings.'' All submissions will be available for public
inspection in the Public Documents Room of the Employee Benefits
Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-1513, 200
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Teresa Thomas, (202) 693-8655, Room
N5623, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210 email
address: saversummit@dol.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
The Savings Are Vital to Everyone's Retirement (SAVER) Act of 1997
(Pub. L. 105-92) amended the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of
1974 (ERISA) by adding a new section 517, \1\ which calls for the
convening of National Summits on Retirement Savings (National Summits).
Section 517 of ERISA provides standards for the purposes, scope,
participation, and administration of each National Summit.
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\1\ 29 U.S.C. 1147.
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As outlined in the Act, the purposes of the National Summits are
(1) To increase the public awareness of the value of personal savings
for retirement, (2) to advance the public's knowledge and understanding
of retirement savings and its critical importance to the future well-
being of American workers and their families, (3) to facilitate the
development of a broad-based, public education program to encourage
individual commitment to a personal retirement savings strategy, (4) to
identify the problems workers have in setting aside adequate savings
for retirement, (5) to identify the barriers that employers, especially
small employers, face in assisting their workers in saving for
retirement, (6) to examine the impact and effectiveness of individual
employers in promoting personal savings for retirement among their
workers and workers' participation in company savings options, (7) to
examine the impact and effectiveness of government programs at the
Federal, State, and local levels in educating the public about and
encouraging retirement savings, (8) to develop comprehensive
recommendations for government and private sector actions to promote
pensions and individual retirement savings, and (9) to develop
recommendations for the coordination of retirement savings initiatives
among the Federal, State, and local governments.
The Act called for the convening of three National Summits. The
first was held on June 4-5, 1998, in Washington, DC. The second Summit
was held on February 28-March 1, 2002. The third Summit is tentatively
planned for early March 2006. The SAVER Act requires the Secretary of
Labor (Secretary) to prepare a report describing each Summit's
activities and to submit it to the President and Congressional leaders
following the Summit's adjournment.
The SAVER Act provides that the National Summits are to be planned
and conducted under the direction of the Secretary of Labor, in
consultation with heads of other Federal agencies as designated by the
President. The Act further provides that, in planning a National
Summit, the Secretary shall consult with bipartisan Congressional
leaders and with at least one organization composed or private sector
representatives that partners with Governmental entities to promote
retirement savings.
B. First National Summit
The first two National Summits were convened by the President and
co-hosted by members of the Congressional leadership on June 4-5, 1998
and February 28-March 1, 2002. Following both Summits, final reports
were prepared and submitted in accordance with the SAVER Act. These
reports are publicly available through the Department of Labor's Web
site at http://www.saversummit.dol.gov. The reports describe the
information exchange at the Summit and any recommendations made by the
Summits' participants to achieve the goal of a financially secure
retirement for all Americans.
C. Information Requested
The Department is now in the process of developing an agenda for
the 2006 National Summit. The Department wishes to develop an agenda
that builds on the primary recommendations for national retirement
savings education programs presented at the earlier National Summits
and that reflects, to the greatest extent possible, the purposes of the
National Summit as set forth in ERISA section 517. To ensure that the
Summit comprehensively serves its statutory purposes, the Department
hereby solicits comments from organizations, both private and public,
that have a mission to educate American workers about the importance of
savings for retirement and ways to achieve retirement security. All
information received will be used to develop the 2006 National Summit
agenda and to help shape the information presented at the Summit. The
Department intends to publish a proposed agenda in the Federal Register
prior to the 2006 National Summit in accordance with the SAVER Act.
The Department requests comments on the issues related to
retirement savings education described above. The Department is
particularly interested in comments concerning the following:
1. Suggested topics for discussing the current state of retirement
savings education in America and its effect on the national retirement
savings rate;
2. Ideas about programs and activities that would effectively reach
the general
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public and, more specifically, low-income workers, women, small
business owners, minorities, youth, and older workers;
3. Success stories and model programs that have used effective
communication techniques to educate low-income workers, women, minority
groups, youth, and older workers about the need to save and steps that
should be taken to save for retirement;
4. Measurement techniques used to assess the effectiveness of
public outreach and media efforts regarding retirement savings; and
5. Ideas for creating new partnerships among public and private
sector organizations to enhance existing programs for encouraging
retirement savings.
Submitted comments may address any or all of the aforementioned
categories of information and need not be limited to those categories.
In submitting comments, please refer to the pertinent topic addressed
by the comment by number. Comments must be received by July 5, 2005 to
be considered in conjunction with developing the agenda for the 2006
National Summit.
Authority: 29 U.S.C. 1143; Secretary of Labor's Order No. 1-87,
52 FR 13139.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 3rd day of June, 2005.
Bradford P. Campbell,
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Secretary Administration.
[FR Doc. 05-11438 Filed 6-8-05; 8:45 am]
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