Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses 2026 retirement legislative and regulatory initiatives with Davis & Harman’s Chris Gaston.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Chris, happy New Year. Great to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
Chris Gaston, Davis & Harman, LLP
Oh, great to be with you again. Thanks for the invitation.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So we’re talking retirement, industry, legislative and regulatory priorities for 2026. Before we get there, I want to ask about 2025. What did we accomplish?
What got left on the table?
Chris Gaston, Davis & Harman, LLP
Yeah, I mean, it’s a great question. You know, we all set our New Year’s goals for the New Year, but sometimes you got to reflect on what did or didn’t happen to really know how things went and what you should look for in the outlook. So I think, you know, the main really important thing for 2025 is, and shouldn’t be lost, is retirement savings, tax incentives were not touched.
They were preserved, they were maintained. The kind of bipartisan consensus that was built in Congress on the tax writing committees in the House and the Senate side through Secure and Secure 2.0 really helped keep, you know, negative changes to the tax code as it relates to retirement savings. The reason for the benefits being offered and the services that a lot of folks in our community provide to millions of Americans, untouched.
And so that’s kind of a quiet victory, which is, you know, status quo. And that’s a really important thing. Retirement savings, tax incentives, second largest tax incentive in the tax code.
So if you’re looking for money to pay for a lot of things as House and Senate Republicans were, that’s a good place to look. And we’re really glad that it didn’t really become a major issue and wasn’t really ever on the table.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So when we shift to, I’m sorry, go ahead.
Chris Gaston, Davis & Harman, LLP
Oh, no, I was just gonna say the other thing that got, you know, close in 2025. And I think, you know, as we look to 2026 is really on the front of the agenda is advancing investment choice in 403B plans, right? That’s been a long time actually, half loaf issue from Secure 2.0 and the House Financial Services Committee, bipartisan leadership in the Senate have introduced a bill, went through the House Financial Services Committee on a bipartisan basis. And actually just as the 2025 came to a close, the House approved a broad banking package, but the Invest Act, which included the 403B CIT, unregistered separate account securities exemptions that are needed to kind of fully realize that provision. Thanks to Chairman French Hill and Frank Lucas and Gottheimer and Foster Democrats on the committee and so many in industry, we’re getting one step closer. And that’s very much on my 2026 outlook.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, sorry to interrupt you. I just, I wanted to ask you about 2026. So there are some things that, it sounds like there was a lot of movement in 25.
We didn’t get over the hump or across the finish line with some things. When you look at 2026 and, you know, you’re working with a lot of different industry groups, the Spark Institute, one comes to mind. What’s top of mind for the industry in terms of some of these priorities?
Chris Gaston, Davis & Harman, LLP
Yeah, on the legislative front, you know, Jeff, I think the number one thing is trying to finalize and get across the finish line in that 403B investment expansion. And we’re close, there’s no guarantee for 2026, but a broad bipartisan vote, I think 87 House Democrats supported that INVEST Act, which included the 403B investment expansion at the end of last year. Puts it on a very good trajectory for hopefully the Senate to do the same, come up with a bipartisan financial services, capital markets package, and this will likely have a home in that.
No guarantee, you know, legislative year is short. It’s an even numbered year. There’s an election that occurs in November.
So the calendar is short and the attention span is really narrowed to what’s the art of the possible. But that’s the one thing I think in the retirement space that has a really a decent chance for this year. There are a lot of things that we’re gonna talk about this year, whether it’s litigation reform, you know, there’s been proposals, don’t really see them getting across the finish line.
Just this week, you know, I probably covered it. There was a great hearing on lifetime income and the value of in-plan lifetime income on the House side. Good proposals there, some led by, you know, important members like Chairman Tim Wahlberg, but we don’t see that legislation kind of getting enacted this year.
Similarly, just at the end of last year, there was a Senate health committee hearing on a bunch of bipartisan issues led, you know, some of them led by Chairman Cassidy, whether it’s lowering the in-plan kind of age for participants from 21 to 18, or kind of doing more to encourage auto-enrollment, good bipartisan ideas. The kind of cornerstones of maybe that next retirement package, but I think we’ve got a long way to go, and it’s probably not materializing as a package in 2026.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And you could probably hear my cat. I have a kitten, she’s been meowing. I think she’s very much in favor of new retirement legislation.
Chris, when it comes to potential passage, I’ve heard you and others say in the past that it’s really hard to get one particular bill across the finish line, and generally you try to wrap up some of these retirement or investment issues into larger bills. When you look at 2026, are we gonna get a omnibus type of bill, a secure type of bill?
Chris Gaston, Davis & Harman, LLP
Yeah, I think we’re more in the, you know, to use an analogy from agriculture, I think we’re more in the seed planting than the harvesting phase of the next bill. You know, we’re seeing members on a bipartisan basis introduce retirement bills, as I said, that kind of age 18 bill, the auto-enrollment bill, lifetime income for employees act bill, and a handful of others across the last couple of months. But they’re gonna need to kind of continue to educate other members and get additional proposals.
I don’t think we’re gonna get that big package this year. And we’re also getting some, you know, thought leadership from really important members. You know, the ranking member of Richard Neal was kind of the spiritual guru of Secure and Secure 2.0. He’s working on putting together a package of ideas. Some we’ll like, and some we might, you know, wanna think about. But he’s also reintroduced his automatic IRA bill, kind of a coverage requirement for all folks to have a plan or an IRA. That’s his big thing in this space.
I’m not sure Republicans are there yet. So, you know, it’s gonna be, I think, a longer road from Secure 2.0 to the next package than it was from 1.0 to 2.0. And at the same time, you know, Congress historically just does less in this kind of election year, but that doesn’t mean that they’re the only actor. The regulators are gonna be very active.
And I think we’re seeing a lot of interest, you know, Jeff, in obviously the executive order and alternative assets. And we’re expecting kind of something from the Department of Labor within, you know, within a month or so to kind of do their bit to advance some type of a safe harbor or some type of regulatory clarity for plan sponsors who might wanna offer greater access to alternatives. The Department of Labor has also been incredibly helpful.
Sea change, a whole new day in America in terms of its approach to plan sponsors and service providers getting sued by the greedy cookie cutter plaintiff’s bar. They’ve been very active in amicus briefs in the last couple of months, and we expect more to come to push back on the plaintiff’s bar and kind of stand up for the first time in a while for plan sponsors and for the retirement savings industry against these kind of greedy plaintiff’s lawyers. So more on that, you know, as this year gets halfway through, we’re also gonna see Trump accounts come online.
And while they’re not exactly a retirement savings account, they certainly could be and have a lot of the features that our members and industry community members have looked at. And I think we’re all gonna learn a lot more about how they get implemented, who the service provider is selected and kind of what companies are doing. But I mean, it’s gonna be a busy year, if not from Congress, certainly from the regulators.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Well, Chris, we’ve got about a minute left, and I was hoping that we’ve talked about a lot today. If you could, maybe in the last minute, talk about some of your key takeaways from our conversation this morning.
Chris Gaston, Davis & Harman, LLP
Yeah, I mean, I think it’s probably three or four things. First is reflect on, you know, the tax incentives for retirement savings weren’t touched by the House Republican Senate, House Republican tax bill at the end of last year in July. That’s a great thing.
There’s a bipartisan consensus for retirement savings. I think 2026 really could be the year of investment expansion for four or three plans, allowing for collective investment trust and unregistered separate accounts. And I think we’re gonna spend a lot more time in 2026 looking and responding to what regulators do, whether it’s alts in 401k plans, greater pushback on spurious litigation, or kind of the coming online of Trump accounts.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Well, no one can argue, Chris, that the retirement industry stands on its hands, Pat. I think there’s a lot going on. I think a lot of Americans don’t realize how you and your colleagues, our colleagues, really are advocating on their behalf.
Chris, thanks so much for joining us. And look, we’ll check in with you throughout the year. We look forward to having you back again very soon.
Chris Gaston, Davis & Harman, LLP
Thanks, Jeff. And hope you have a good kickoff to 2026.