H.R. 1013: Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Act of 2025

Federal securities law lets a 401(k) plan put money in a collective investment trust, a pooled fund maintained by a bank, without that trust registering as an investment company. A 403(b) plan, the kind offered by public schools, charities and churches, is not on that list.

H.R. 1013 would add qualifying 403(b) plans to that list, so they could invest through bank collective trusts and insurance company separate accounts. It makes matching changes to the securities registration exemptions, so the same investments could be offered to 403(b) savers without separate registration.

A 403(b) plan qualifies only if one of three things is true: it is covered by ERISA, the federal law that holds private employer plans to fiduciary duties; the employer agrees to act as a fiduciary when choosing the plan's investment menu; or it is a government plan, such as a school district's. For government plans, the employer or a fiduciary would have to review and approve every investment option before employees could choose it.

The bill does not set fees, guarantee returns or change how much you can contribute. It changes which investments your plan is allowed to offer; whether your plan adds them is up to the employer.

The House passed the bill in an amended form. The provisions described here are from the introduced text.