1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Expanding Access to Retirement Act of 2019 . 2. Definition of employer for purposes of association retirement plans and other multiple employer pension benefit plans (a) Definition of employer Section 3(5) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ( 29 U.S.C. 1002(5) ) is amended by striking the period and inserting (which, with respect to a defined contribution pension plan, includes only a bona fide group or association of employers or a bona fide professional employer organization, as defined in paragraphs (43) and (44), respectively). . (b) Bona fide group or association of employers Section 3 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ( 29 U.S.C. 1002 ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (43) (A) The term bona fide group or association of employers means a group or association of employers that meets all of the following requirements: (i) The primary purpose of the group or association may be to offer and provide multiple employer pension plan coverage to employer members and their employees, provided that the group or association has at least one substantial business purpose unrelated to offering and providing multiple employer pension plan coverage or other employee benefits. (ii) Each employer member of the group or association participating in the plan is a person acting directly as an employer of at least one employee who is a participant covered under the plan. (iii) The group or association has a formal organizational structure with a governing body and has by-laws or other similar indications of formality. (iv) The functions and activities of the group or association are controlled, in form and in substance, by its employer members and the group's or association's employer members that participate in the pension plan. (v) The employer members have a commonality of interest as described in subparagraph (C). (vi) The group or association does not make plan participation through the association available other than to