Guest Column: A Commonsense Fix to Strengthen Employee Benefits Nationwide by Jon Olson, Financial Industry Executive

A Commonsense Fix to Strengthen Employee Benefits Nationwide
by Jon Olson, Financial Industry Executive
Sioux Falls, SD

South Dakota has a longstanding history of leadership in the financial sector, demonstrated by our state’s proactive approach to shaping policies that foster economic growth. South Dakota leaders have consistently taken the initiative to update and modernize laws ensuring they remain responsive to the evolving needs of both businesses and workers. In the early 1980s, Governor Bill Janklow overhauled the state’s lending laws (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/interviews/janklow.html), making South Dakota the destination for Citibank, which sparked the national credit card boom. Decades later, Governor Dennis Daugaard kept South Dakota’s trust industry competitive (https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/news/south-dakota-quietly-became-a-leader-in-national-trust-field), attracting businesses from across the country and cementing the state’s reputation as a national leader in protecting trust assets.

Today Congress has a chance to follow South Dakota’s leadership around pro-worker policies by passing the Strengthening Benefit Plans Act of 2025, introduced by Senator Tim Scott (R–S.C.). This policy would unlock pension plan assets so companies can send those dollars right back to their employees.

Decades ago, responsible employers contributed funds to ensure retirees’ care needs would be covered. Today, many of those accounts are overfunded, in some cases by as much as 175 percent. Billions of dollars sit untouched in pension accounts across the nation due to the usual government red tape. Under current law, companies are prohibited from using the surplus to support current workers. Resources that could enhance active employee benefits, strengthen pensions, or help offset rising care costs remain locked away.

Under the Strengthening Benefit Plans Act of 2025, surplus assets in retiree health accounts could be redirected to provide other employee benefits, all with strong safeguards in place to protect retirees. Pension plans must be fully funded before any transfers, benefits must remain vested, and all funds would be held in trust to ensure accountability. This policy prevents manipulation, and no employer could cut retiree benefits or artificially inflate surplus to access these funds. This is the simple, commonsense answer that workers deserve.

This approach benefits all parties involved. Employers gain flexibility to better support their workforce, employees see improvements in benefits and lower health costs, and taxpayers benefit because these funds have already been deducted which means using them generates new federal revenue without raising taxes. It’s an all-around win which is a rarity in politics these days.

During my time working in the financial sector, I witnessed firsthand how critical it is to invest in the employees who form the backbone of our state’s economy. We owe our workers more than just a salary; we owe them policies that recognize their hard work and strengthen the systems they depend on.

Congress must ensure that these resources are put to work where they belong, supporting employees and strengthening our economy. That said, I have no doubt that Majority Leader John Thune, a steadfast champion for South Dakota and a tireless advocate for practical, commonsense solutions, will continue to lead the charge. South Dakotans voted for Leader Thune for a reason: to fight for policies that promote fiscal responsibility, economic growth, and opportunity for all.

This policy aligns with conservative principles of fiscal responsibility and efficient government. It rewards companies that responsibly fund benefits, strengthens businesses, and directly supports employees: all without additional taxpayer cost. In a divided Washington, this is the type of practical, pro-growth solution that conservatives will champion.

South Dakota businesses understand how outdated federal rules can hinder flexibility and growth. We’ve proven that updating laws to match real-world needs not only works but creates lasting change. It’s time for Congress to act, ensuring that hard-earned retiree pension plans can benefit both employees today and the broader economy tomorrow.

8 thoughts on “Guest Column: A Commonsense Fix to Strengthen Employee Benefits Nationwide by Jon Olson, Financial Industry Executive”

“Flexibility” means we can raid the cookie jar!! Overfunded pension plans, if they actually exist at all, are rare. Any surplus is a hedge against falling interest rates which Trump is desperate to happen.

This is such a staggeringly bad idea. Corruption is guaranteed. Theft of benefits is not a fiscally responsible plan. Who is this thief John Olson?

what pension plans?

when I retired, my husband’s government-job colleagues, knowing I worked in the private sector, asked “what does she get?”
He told them: “she doesn’t get anything; they don’t put her on the schedule and she doesn’t go to work.”
They were surprised to hear this.

This is a pretty half-baked idea in my opinion. Letting the employers define what “excess” is (as currently written in the bill), and then claiming this would “strengthen the systems they depend on,” (the worker) is a pure juxtaposition. Then, to cite the lending law overhaul and trust overhaul as examples of this is comical. Do we overlook how the lending law overhaul normalized predatory lending with 20%+ interest? Do we overlook the tax evasion and fentanyl money laundering with the trust laws in South Dakota right now? Now we want to set up another example of future failure: under-funding benefits and allowing the corporation to change names when future retirees don’t have enough to obtain their benefits? Surely, this can’t be considered strengthening systems the worker depends on; it is strengthening a system that a few elite depend on.

This should not be supported unless you are part of that elite class, and I hate to break it to you, but 99% of you are not, and will not, be part of that class.