The U. S. Department of Labors Pension and
Welfare Benefits Administration today announced it is publishing a request for
public comments on the agenda for the National Summit on Retirement Savings
scheduled to take place in the Fall of 2001.
The 2001 summit is the second of three national
summits mandated by the Savings Are Vital To Everyones Retirement (SAVER)
Act and will be convened by the President and co- hosted by Congressional
leadership. Under the SAVER Act, the Secretary of Labor has authority to direct
the planning of the summits and must submit to the President and Congress a
report describing activities of the summits.
The summits focus on, among other things,
increasing public awareness about the need to save for retirement, identifying
problems faced by workers and employers in saving, examining the
governments effectiveness in educating the public about retirement
savings, and developing comprehensive recommendations that promote pension and
individual retirement savings.
The first summit was held June 4-5, 1998 in
Washington, D.C. The report on the 1998 summit is available on PWBAs
website at www.dol.gov/dol/pwba.
"We want to encourage the broadest possible
participation in shaping the agenda of the next summit on retirement savings,"
said Acting Assistant Secretary Leslie B. Kramerich. "This is our opportunity
to hear from the American people and groups reaching out to them regarding
retirement education and what is still needed. This is their summit."
The request for information (RFI), scheduled to be
published in the Dec. 1 Federal Register, is designed to solicit comments which
will assist the department in shaping the agenda for the 2001 summit. The RFI
seeks suggestions for the agenda of the 2001 summit, including:
- suggested topics on the current state of retirement savings
education in the United States and its effect on the national savings rate;
- ideas for programs and activities to reach the general public,
particularly lower- income workers, women, minorities, small business owners,
youth and older workers;
- success stories and model programs that use effective
communication techniques to reach these target populations on the need to save
and steps to take in saving for retirement;
- techniques for measuring effectiveness of public outreach and
media efforts on retirement savings; and
- ideas for creating new partnerships with public and private
sector organizations in order to enhance existing programs designed to promote
retirement savings.
Written suggestions and comments should be
provided to the department on or before Jan. 31, 2001. The comments should be
addressed to the Office of Regulations and Interpretations, Pension and Welfare
Benefits Administration, U. S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue,
N.W., Room N-5669, Washington, D. C., Attention: 2001 National Summit on
Retirement Savings. |