FERS, TSP Ideas Catch Ride on Other Bill

Several retirement-related proposals have been approved by a House committee and attached to an unrelated tobacco policy bill, a repeat of the strategy the House followed last year. The proposals are those to require a Roth option in the TSP and to require contributions by all newly hired employees with an opt-out option while authorizing the creation of an investment "window" in which TSP participants could invest in funds other than those directly offered by the TSP. Also attached to the bill (HR-1256) passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee is a provision to credit unused sick leave in FERS annuity computations. The measure now moves to the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where similar proposals are pending as separate bills. The House passed a similar combination bill last year but the Senate never took it up.