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The bill would also facilitate the distribution of in-plan annuities when an annuity is removed from an investment menu.

In his opening remarks, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said the provision affecting annuity distributions would increase “the reliability of lifetime income by making it easier for employers to offer annuity contracts.”

An amendment to the bill was introduced during the hearing that would facilitate the wider adoption of so-called open multiple employer plans.

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Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have consistently lobbied for open multiple employer plans over the past two years, and the White House has also put its support behind legislation that would facilitate their wider adoption.

Existing law requires sponsors in multiple employer plans to have a shared nexus, such as participation in a trade group, known as the “commonality” rule. The amendment to the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act would eliminate that requirement, allowing unrelated employers to pool assets and participants under one multiple employer plan. The amendment would also eliminate the “one bad apple” rule, which can bring liability to all employers in a multiple employer plan when one employer violates their fiduciary requirements.

Miners Protection Act of 2016

The Miners Protection Act of 2016 also advanced out of the Senate Finance Committee, though eight Republican members voted against it.

The bill addresses the solvency of the United Mine Workers of America’s pension and health care plans by redirecting funds from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund, which is run by the U.S. Department of the Interior, to the 1974 Pension Fund, which holds the retirement benefits of 22,000 mine workers. The plan’s actuary has said the plan is projected to be insolvent by 2025, according to a notice on the plan’s status the U.S. Department of Labor sent to participants in 2015.

The rash of bankruptcies, consolidations and layoffs in the beleaguered coal industry has led to a massive decrease in the number of coal companies participating and contributing to the plan.

In 1984, there were more than 2,800 coal companies contributing to the 1974 Pension Fund. Today, most of the contributions come from two non-bankrupt coal companies, according to an op-ed by Robert Murray, chairman of the Bituminous Coal Operators’ Association, published by The Wall Street Journal.

In his opening remarks before the committee, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking member of the committee, said tens of thousands of mineworkers are at risk of losing their health and retirement benefits.

“These are hardworking people who come from communities where broken promises, bad policies and bankruptcies have hit like one wrecking ball after another for decades,” said Wyden.

“These miners put in backbreaking work in one of the toughest jobs out there, and it is by absolutely no fault of their own that the industry they worked in has fallen on hard times. Yet the reality is, tens of thousands of mineworkers and their widows and families are headed toward a cliff at the end of this year. Their health benefits are set to expire in just a few months. Their pension benefits will go soon after that,” he said.