As a result, the Senate brokefor the Thanksgiving recess with noprogresson the pensionissueandno sign of whether it wouldbe possible to enactlegislation by the end of the year.
Should pension fiduciaries be comforted that Congress has approved pensionlegislation that expressly permits providing independent advice to defined contribution plan participants?
One exception: Fidelity Investments led a coalition, including Charles Schwab (nyse: SCH - news - people ), that pushed for states to conform with the 2001 pensionlegislation, and all states came on board.
Over the next three months the group met periodically, culminating in the pension-reform legislation that Ms. Raimondo and Gov. Lincoln Chafee introduced in October.