# 119-hr-185: Responsible Legislating Act 119-hr-185, Responsible Legislating Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. McGovern, James P. [D-MA-2] (D-MA); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-10). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-185 - As of: 2026-09-10 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-hr-185 - Congress: 119 - Title: Responsible Legislating Act - Status: in_committee - Introduced: 2025-01-03 - Sponsor: Rep. McGovern, James P. [D-MA-2] (D-MA) - Cosponsors: 0 - Policy area: Government Operations and Politics - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-09-10 ## Summary **Modernizes and expands retirement savings rules** while adding protections for federal employees injured on duty and improving veteran access to registered apprenticeship programs. It bundles automatic enrollment, saver-credit and catch-up changes, IRA and 403(b) updates, and other technical retirement fixes across many titles. - Adds apprenticeship programs to pre-separation education and directs the Department of Labor, working with the VA, to create a public, searchable site showing program descriptions, veteran costs, contact details, veteran endorsements, hiring preferences, and certifications. - Creates a cross-system framework that treats certain post-injury supervisory or administrative service as creditable service for annuity calculations and urges agencies to reappoint injured employees when feasible; allows a 3-day break in service and applies to qualifying injuries occurring on or after 2 years from enactment. - Requires automatic enrollment for many 401(k) and 403(b) plans with default contributions starting at 3% and escalating by 1 percentage point each year until at least 10%, plus a range of other saver-friendly changes such as higher catch-up limits and updates to RMD and IRA rules. ## Provisions PRIA read - Bigger Saver's Credit for savers: benefit, high. If enacted, the Saver's Credit rate would increase to 50 percent for eligible taxpayers starting in tax years after 2028. For married joint filers the full credit would apply up to $35,000 of AGI and phase out by $48,000; heads of household and single filers get 75% and 50% of those dollar amounts… - Lower penalties and easier corrections: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would make it easier to fix retirement-plan and IRA errors and reduce penalties. The IRS EPCRS program would be expanded so eligible inadvertent plan and some IRA failures can be self-corrected with no final deadline, unless the IRS already identified the problem. The excise ta… - More retirement saver options and relief: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would give retirement savers several new options and tax relief. Qualified first responders could exclude some disability retirement payments from taxable income for tax years after 2029. Victims of domestic abuse could take penalty-free withdrawals from retirement plans up to… - Credit for military‑spouse coverage: benefit, high. If enacted, eligible small employers could claim a credit of $250 for each military‑spouse employee plus up to $250 more for employer contributions per such employee. The credit applies for the year the spouse begins participating and the two following years. Employers must make military spouses el… - New startup tax help for employers: benefit, high. If enacted, small employers could get a bigger startup tax credit and a new per-employee contribution credit up to $1,000 per year. The per-employee credit percentage is 100% in year 1, 75% in year 2, 50% in year 3, 25% in year 4, and 0% after that. Employers with more than 50 employees would reduc… - Easier retirement access for part‑time workers: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would make it easier for many part-time workers to join and vest in employer retirement plans. A year of service can count with at least 500 hours, and waiting periods to join plans generally cannot exceed the earlier of existing limits or a 24-month window made of two 12-month… - Hardship and recoupment protections: benefit, medium. If enacted, 403(b) plans could allow hardship withdrawals from salary-reduction, nonelective, and matching contributions and earnings, and failure to take a loan would not by itself bar hardship status. Plan administrators could rely on employee hardship certifications. Plans that try to recoup acc… - Penalty‑free pay for firefighters: benefit, medium. If enacted, employees who provide firefighting services could take early withdrawals from certain plans without paying the 10% additional tax on early distributions. The change applies to distributions made after December 31, 2024 and explicitly names private‑sector firefighters. - Retirement tax timing and RMD changes: benefit, medium. If enacted, the required minimum distribution age would rise in steps (to 73, 74, then 75 depending on birth year), letting some people delay taxable withdrawals. The bill also allows more flexible commercial‑annuity payout options, indexes the $1,000 IRA catch‑up after 2025, treats only the IRA po… - Plan amendment and multi‑employer rules: benefit, medium. If enacted, plans that adopt required changes under this Act by the deadline would be treated as having operated under the new rules during that period, preventing certain technical violations. The bill would also let some 403(b) arrangements run by multiple employers be treated as a single multipl… - Higher penalties for school-area crimes: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would raise penalties for certain sex‑trafficking, enticement, and coercion offenses when they occur in school zones or within 1,000 feet of school activities or college premises. The change would add up to five years of imprisonment in those circumstances and clarifies covered… - Study of foreign port ownership: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Federal Maritime Commission would arrange a study to evaluate how foreign ownership of terminals at the 15 largest U.S. container ports affects U.S. economic security. The study must cover the past 10 years, planned changes for 2025–2026, grant funding to foreign-owned ports, and po… - Uniform DHS grant review: benefit, medium. If enacted, FEMA would have to use a single review process for grant requests to buy equipment not on the Authorized Equipment List or that lack consensus standards. FEMA must weigh factors like federal use, standards availability, capability gaps, and comparative effectiveness. The DHS Inspector G… - Boots to Business for veterans: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would create a Boots to Business entrepreneurship training program through September 30, 2028. Covered people include service members, transitioning personnel, veterans discharged other than dishonorably, and their spouses or dependents. The program could offer classroom and on… - SelectUSA semiconductor reports: benefit, medium. If enacted, SelectUSA must ask State economic development groups for comments within 180 days on federal efforts to attract semiconductor-related foreign investment. SelectUSA must report to Congress within two years on comments received, activities to increase such investment, and recommendations… - Apprenticeship listings for veterans: benefit, low. If enacted, the Labor Department and Veterans Affairs would create or update a public, searchable website listing registered apprenticeship programs that serve veterans. The site would show occupation, location, costs to veterans, contact info, endorsements, veteran hiring preference, and certifica… - Promote Saver's Credit awareness: benefit, low. If enacted, the Treasury would take steps to increase public awareness of the Saver's Credit and must report to Congress within 90 days on planned outreach. The report must cover printed and digital materials, State distribution plans, and translations into the ten most common non‑English languages. - Protect whistleblower identities in House: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would bar Members, officers, and House employees from knowingly and willfully publicly disclosing the identity or personal details of someone who reported possible wrongdoing to Congress under protected whistleblower laws. Exceptions would allow disclosure with written consent,… - Extend livestock reporting deadline year: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would change references to the year 2024 to 2025 in the Livestock Mandatory Reporting laws where that date appears. This keeps the livestock reporting program in force for another year where the statute uses that specific year reference. - Small one‑year agency appropriations: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would provide modest one‑year appropriations (about $1 million each) to several agencies: HRSA Telehealth Resource Center, USDA Office of Budget and Program Analysis, Army operations and maintenance, the Energy Information Administration, DHS Management Directorate, and the Sta… - Limit ESOP sale tax deferral: cost, medium. If enacted, sellers of S‑corporation stock to ESOPs could only defer gain under section 1042 on up to 10% of the amount realized. The seller must account for the portion of basis that matches the deferred amount. This applies to sales after December 31, 2029. - Automatic enrollment and incentives: mixed, medium. If enacted, many 401(k) and 403(b) plans would have to auto-enroll workers at a uniform default between 3% and 10% in year one. The default would rise 1 percentage point each year until at least 10% (caps differ before and after 2027). Plans that fix reasonable automatic-enrollment errors quickly w… - Better plan info and lost accounts: mixed, medium. If enacted, the Labor Department would build an online "Retirement Savings Lost and Found" within two years so people can find plan administrators and lost accounts. The bill also requires a joint review of plan disclosures and lets plans use a blended benchmark for multi-asset funds with annual up… - New Roth and matching options: mixed, medium. If enacted, employers could treat some matching contributions as Roth (included in income when made) and may match employee student loan payments the same as deferrals. SIMPLE IRAs and SEP plans could allow Roth-designated contributions for tax years after 2024. The bill also narrows how an electiv… - Employer plan timing and duties change: mixed, medium. If enacted, sole proprietors who are the only employee could make retroactive elective deferrals up to their tax return deadline for plan years starting after enactment. Employers could adopt amendments before their tax return due date that increase benefit accruals effective for the prior plan yea… - Financial market rules for retirement products: mixed, medium. If enacted, the bill would change several market rules that affect retirement investments and financial institutions. 403(b) custodial accounts could hold regulated investment company (RIC) stock for amounts invested after December 31, 2024. Treasury must change rules within seven years to allow ex… - Asian Pacific American commission setup: mixed, low. If enacted, the bill would create a commission to study a possible National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture. The commission could accept private gifts to fund its work, would have eight unpaid members appointed by congressional leaders, and could hire staff who are not federal… ## Related bills - 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act - 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act - 119-hr-6039: Commonsense Legislating Act - 119-hr-2038: American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2025 - 119-hr-3971: Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act - 119-hr-7007: Governing for the People Act ## Sources - [119-hr-185 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/185) ## Related - [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977) - [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973) - [119-hr-6039: Commonsense Legislating Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6039) - [119-hr-2038: American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2038) - [119-hr-3971: Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3971) - [119-hr-7007: Governing for the People Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7007) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-185 (as of 2026-09-10).