IRI Urges Senate to Advance 403(b) Legislation

The Insured Retirement Institute joined a growing number of industry groups asking the Senate to pass legislation allowing 403(b) plans to offer collective investment trusts and nonregistered insurance company separate accounts.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Majority Whip John Barrasso, the IRI urged the Senate to advance the Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Act through any appropriate legislative vehicle before the adjournment of the 119th Congress in January.

The legislation would give 403(b) plans and their participants access to investment options already available in 401(k) plans, 457(b) plans and the federal Thrift Savings Plan.

The IRI’s letter follows similar messages of support sent to the Senate Banking Committee by a coalition led by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association in June and a group of 30 retirement industry CEOs in July. The June letter said the bill would give teachers, hospital employees and nonprofit workers access to investment opportunities similar to those available to private-sector workers.

“The participants in 403(b)s are at a disadvantage by not having access to the same cost-effective investment solutions that other retirement savers can enjoy,” says John Jennings, IRI’s director of government and political affairs.

The Senate committee last discussed the bill during an August 6 hearing centered around federal securities law reforms.

Chairman Tim Scott, R–South Carolina, supported the Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Act in his opening statement at the hearing, and Senator Katie Britt, R-Alabama, argued for the of the proposal, saying she intended to add the bill as an amendment to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or Clarity Act, when the bill is brought before the full Senate for consideration.

“We are very much so in favor of [Britt’s proposal],” Jennings says. “We are also in favor of the bill being attached to any legislative vehicle that the Senate’s considering, so that we can get this bill finally across the finish line and really wrap up the work that was started in Secure 2.0 where this concept generated.”

The House Financial Services Committee passed the Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Act in May 2025. The full House of Representatives voted for it, as part of the Incentivizing New Ventures and Economic Strength Through Capital Formation [INVEST] Act, by a 302-123 vote in December.

The Senate is scheduled to take up a cloture motion on the Clarity Act on September 15, according to the Senate Democrats’ published schedule. If passed and the bill advances to a vote of the full Senate, that measure could then be amended to attach the 403(b) legislation.

“Depending on the Senate schedule and when they move through the amendment process, we’ll know by September 15,” says Jennings.