Vel?zquez: Save Small Firm Retirement Plans

Congress should consider creative ways to help small business owners keep pension plans and retirement savings plans going, a lawmaker says.

Rep. Nydia Vel?zquez, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, talked about the need for coming up with solutions today at a hearing on reports that small businesses are dropping retirement plans.

“Employers that tried to do the right thing and offer a secure retirement to their workers are being hit the hardest,” Vel?zquez said, according to a written version of her remarks.

“For example, when the value of pensions drop, many small business owners still find themselves on the hook for paying out benefits,” Vel?zquez said. “With credit almost impossible to access, consumer spending near an all time low, and sales devastated, small firms simply lack the revenue to fund retirement plans.”

Some ways to help business owners might be to cap the amount of losses that they are responsible for paying during market downturns, letting small firms to look further ahead for pension values when calculating contributions, and making it easier for small employers to borrow against plans during difficult economic periods, Vel?zquez said.

Stephen Dobrow, president of the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries, Arlington, Va., who owns a San Francisco plan administration firm, said sponsors of safe harbor 401(k) plans need permission from the Internal Revenue Service to suspend contributions without shutting down the plans.