Ft Wayne Times

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Congressman Jim Banks' (IN-03) bill, the Providing Complete Information To Retirement Investors Act, aimed at amending the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The bill seeks to warn participants before making potentially risky investment decisions, such as in ESG investments, through a brokerage window.

Said Rep. Banks: "Indiana recently did a great thing by divesting its public retirement assets from an ESG fund. Hard-working retirees’ savings shouldn’t be spent on the radical left’s agenda and investors deserve to be warned before handing their dollars to risky, politically-motivated funds. My bill will give ERISA participants full awareness of the downsides of ESG before they make financial decisions. I hope the Senate takes up my measure to provide transparency and allow retirees to make fully-informed investment decisions."

The Supreme Court has previously stated that there is no room in ERISA for using retirees’ savings to advance nonpecuniary goals like ESG. However, some ERISA plans offer brokerage windows or self-directed brokerage accounts that allow participants to invest based on such nonpecuniary factors.

To protect pensioners’ savings, Rep. Banks' Providing Complete Information To Retirement Investors Act would require a four-part pop-up warning for ERISA participants before investing in a brokerage window:

1. The participant may choose to construct a retirement savings portfolio from designated investment alternatives prudently selected and monitored by a plan fiduciary.

2. The plan’s brokerage window is not a designated investment alternative; investments available within the window have not been prudently selected nor monitored by any plan fiduciary.

3. Depending on the investment selected, a participant may experience diminished returns, higher fees, or greater investment risk through the brokerage window.

4. The participant should be presented with comparative hypothetical balances projected to age 70 based on different net returns of 4%, 6%, and 8%.

This bill is supported by Americans for Tax Reform.

Rep. Banks previously introduced the Protecting Americans’ Retirement Savings Act (PARSA), which would block ERISA plans from making new investments in companies controlled by or based in foreign adversaries and require disclosure of existing investments in other foreign adversary and sanctioned entities.

Rep. Banks is also Chairman of the House Anti-Woke Caucus.