Today, Rep. Scott Peters (CA-52) helped pass the bipartisan Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act to help more Americans save for retirement.

The bill enables more small businesses to offer employee retirement programs by distributing the initial cost of setting up employee plans and providing tax incentives for businesses who choose to do so; requires employers to allow long-term, part-time workers to participate in their 401(k) plans; and fixes portions of the massive tax hike on payments to children and families caused by the 2017 Republican tax bill. The fix ensures that survivor benefits remain taxed at a lower level, including survivor benefits for Gold Star families, tribal government payments to children, and state and local government payments to children of fallen first responders. Additionally, more than 180,000 home health care workers in California who are currently unable to participate in traditional retirement saving will now have access to retirement savings accounts.

“One out of every three Americans thinks they don’t have enough money saved for retirement, or that they can never retire at all. The SECURE Act gives more Americans flexibility to boost their retirement savings. These smart adjustments to the tax code enable small business owners to offer employees retirement savings accounts, which will provide 700,000 Americans an opportunity to start a retirement account.  Small business owners often want to offer a retirement plan to their employees, but are unable to do so because of the overwhelming cost of setting up those plans.

“This bill is a result of bipartisan compromise, further proving that lasting change must have support from both Republicans and Democrats,” said Rep. Peters.