The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, signed into law on December 29, 2022, is the omnibus spending package (Public Law 117-328) that funded the federal government for fiscal year 2023 and, more importantly for anyone reading it years later, carried a bundle of standalone laws that permanently changed retirement savings, workplace rights, cosmetics safety, online marketplaces, and the way Congress counts electoral votes.1GovInfo. Public Law 117-328 – Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 The spending expired at the end of FY2023. The policy pieces did not.
What the Law Funded
The act combined twelve separate appropriations measures into one package, averting a shutdown and setting roughly $1.7 trillion in combined defense and non-defense spending. Defense received $858 billion; non-defense discretionary funding came in at $772.5 billion covering domestic agencies through September 30, 2023.2U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations. Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill Those numbers are historical now. The provisions below are what still matter.
SECURE 2.0: Retirement Rule Changes
Division T of the law is the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, the deepest rewrite of retirement savings rules in years.3Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2024-2 – Miscellaneous Changes Under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 The changes were staggered, and most are now in effect.
Required Minimum Distributions Start Later
If you did not turn 72 before 2023, your required minimum distribution age is 73. It rises again to 75 in 2033.4Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs Miss a required distribution and the excise tax is now 25% of the shortfall instead of the old 50%. Catch it within the correction window (generally before the IRS assesses the tax or by the end of the second tax year after the miss) and the penalty drops to 10%.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Retirement Plans
Automatic Enrollment in New Plans
New 401(k) and 403(b) plans set up after the law’s enactment must automatically enroll eligible employees at a default contribution rate between 3% and 10% of pay, with an automatic escalation feature that bumps the rate up by 1 percentage point each year until it reaches at least 10%. You can opt out or pick a different rate. This does not apply to plans that already existed before the law.
Bigger Catch-Ups Between 60 and 63
Starting in 2025, workers aged 60 through 63 can make catch-up contributions of $10,000 or 150% of the standard catch-up limit for that year, whichever is greater. Under 60 and 50 or older, the regular catch-up still applies.
Emergency Withdrawals
You can pull up to $1,000 per year from a retirement account for unexpected personal or family expenses without paying the 10% early-withdrawal penalty. You self-certify the need. Repay it within three years and you can take another; if you don’t repay, you have to wait out the three-year window before the next one.
Student Loan Payments Can Trigger a Match
For plan years beginning after December 31, 2023, employers can treat your student loan payments as elective retirement deferrals for matching purposes. Pay $500 a month on student loans, and if your employer offers this benefit, the company can drop a match into your 401(k) or 403(b) as though you had contributed that $500 yourself.6Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2024-63 – Guidance Under Section 110 of the SECURE 2.0 Act
Saver’s Match
Beginning in 2027, the Saver’s Credit is scheduled to become the Saver’s Match. Instead of a tax credit reducing what you owe, the federal government will deposit a 50% match on up to $2,000 of retirement savings directly into your account.
529-to-Roth IRA Rollovers
Since 2024, leftover 529 education savings can be rolled into a Roth IRA for the plan’s beneficiary. The 529 must have been open at least 15 years. Contributions made in the last five years cannot be rolled. Annual rollovers are capped at the Roth IRA contribution limit for the year, and the lifetime cap per beneficiary is $35,000.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A – Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements
ABLE Accounts Open to More People in 2026
ABLE accounts let people with disabilities save without losing means-tested benefits like SSI. The age at which the qualifying disability must have begun rises from 26 to 46 on January 1, 2026.8Social Security Administration. Spotlight on Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Accounts The disability still has to have lasted, or be expected to last, at least a year.
Small Employer Tax Credits
Businesses with 50 or fewer employees can claim a credit covering 100% of qualified startup costs for a new plan, up to $5,000 per year for three years.9Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans Startup Costs Tax Credit Employers with 51 to 100 employees get a reduced credit at 50% of costs. A separate $500 annual credit is available for three years for adding automatic enrollment.
Workplace Protections
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Employers with 15 or more employees must provide reasonable accommodations for limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so would cause undue hardship.10U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Pregnant Workers Fairness Act An employer cannot force a pregnant worker to accept a specific accommodation or push them onto leave if a different accommodation would let them keep working.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000gg-1 – Nondiscrimination With Regard to Reasonable Accommodations Related to Pregnancy Typical accommodations include more frequent breaks, seating, modified lifting, and schedule flexibility. Retaliation for requesting one is prohibited. The EEOC enforces the act using the same remedies available under Title VII.
PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act
The PUMP Act extended existing break-time protections for nursing employees to salaried workers, teachers, nurses, agricultural workers, truck drivers, and others previously excluded under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Employers must provide reasonable break time to express breast milk for up to one year after a child’s birth, plus a private space that is not a bathroom, shielded from view, and free from intrusion.12U.S. Department of Labor. FLSA Protections to Pump at Work Employees can now sue for violations, which they could not do before. If you are not fully relieved of duties during pumping time, that time counts as hours worked for minimum wage and overtime. Small employers can claim an exemption only by showing compliance would create significant expense or unsafe conditions.
Health Care Provisions Still in Force
Medicare Telehealth
The act’s Medicare telehealth flexibilities were originally set to expire at the end of 2024. Later legislation pushed them to December 31, 2027.13U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Telehealth Policy Updates Beneficiaries can access virtual visits regardless of where they live, and a wider set of providers, including physical therapists and audiologists, can deliver care remotely.
End of Medicaid Continuous Coverage
The pandemic rule barring states from dropping Medicaid enrollees ended on March 31, 2023, on a schedule set by this act. Starting in April 2023, states began redetermining eligibility for their entire Medicaid populations.14Medicaid.gov. Unwinding and Returning to Regular Operations After COVID-19 The law required states to send clear notices before terminating anyone’s coverage. Millions were dropped during the unwinding process, including many who were still eligible but did not complete paperwork in time.
Cosmetics Safety (MoCRA)
The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act gave the FDA its most significant new authority over cosmetics since 1938.15U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA) Manufacturers must register their facilities with the FDA, list every product with its ingredients, and report serious adverse health events within 15 business days.16U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Registration and Listing of Cosmetic Product Facilities and Products The FDA can suspend a facility’s registration when it determines a product has a reasonable probability of causing serious health consequences or death and the failure cannot be isolated to a single product. A suspended facility cannot distribute cosmetics in the United States.
Online Marketplace Transparency (INFORM Consumers Act)
The INFORM Consumers Act targets the sale of stolen and counterfeit goods on online marketplaces. Platforms must collect and verify identity, tax, and bank account information for every high-volume third-party seller. A seller hits that threshold with 200 or more separate transactions and at least $5,000 in gross revenue in any continuous 12-month period during the past 24 months.17Federal Trade Commission. What Third Party Sellers Need to Know About the INFORM Consumers Act Marketplaces must collect the data within 10 days of a seller reaching the threshold, verify it, and require sellers to certify accuracy at least once a year. Required information includes the seller’s name, working email and phone number, tax ID, and bank account details.18Federal Trade Commission. Informing Businesses About the INFORM Consumers Act The FTC enforces the law and can seek civil penalties.
Summer EBT and Disaster Relief
The act permanently authorized the Summer EBT program, which provides $120 in grocery benefits per eligible school-age child during summer break. The program launched nationwide in summer 2024.19Food and Nutrition Service. Summer EBT Billions also went to the Disaster Relief Fund for recovery from hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters, covering debris removal, infrastructure repair, and grants for displaced residents.
Electoral Count Reform
The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022, embedded in the omnibus, rewrote the 1887 rules for how Congress counts presidential electoral votes. It clarifies that the Vice President’s role in certification is purely ministerial, with no authority to accept or reject a state’s electoral votes. It also raised the bar for congressional objections: an objection now requires signatures from at least one-fifth of both the House and the Senate before it can be considered, up from a single member of each chamber.20Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 3 USC 15 – Counting Electoral Votes in Congress Objections must rest on specific constitutional grounds, such as a state submitting votes from an elector who was not lawfully certified.