529 groups band together to lobby Congress

The 529 college savings plan industry’s two advocacy organizations are taking steps to work more closely on 529 legislative issues in Washington. Board members from the Lexington, Ky.-based College Savings Plan Network and the Washington-based College Savings Foundation will start the process with a conference call next Friday, Feb. 6, said Dan Ebersole, chairman of the CSPN’s executive board and the Atlanta-based director of Georgia’s office of treasury and fiscal services. “We have to communicate more effectively and coordinate our efforts to speak with one voice in Washington,” he told the College Savings Foundation’s annual conference in Miami Beach, Fla., this morning. The two organizations will appoint a task force to “shepherd our agenda through Washington,” Mr. Ebersole said. The CSPN’s members are mostly state officials who oversee 529 programs, while the CSF draws most of its support from financial service companies who manage 529 plans and provide them with investment products.