Pension Accountability Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 833 To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with respect to participant votes on the suspension of benefits under multiemployer plans in critical and declining status. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 14, 2019 Mr. PORTMAN (for himself, Mr. BROWN, and Mrs. FISCHER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with respect to participant votes on the suspension of benefits under multiemployer plans in critical and declining sta- tus. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pension Accountability 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S833.IS S833 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 833 IS SEC. 2. BENEFIT SUSPENSIONS FOR MULTIEMPLOYER 1 PLANS IN CRITICAL AND DECLINING STATUS. 2 (a) ERISA AMENDMENTS.—Section 305(e)(9)(H) of 3 the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 4 (29 U.S.C. 1085(e)(9)(H)) is amended— 5 (1) in clause (ii)— 6 (A) by striking ‘‘Except as provided in 7 clause (v), the’’ and inserting ‘‘The’’; and 8 (B) by striking ‘‘a majority of all partici- 9 pants and beneficiaries of the plan’’ and insert- 10 ing ‘‘, of the participants and beneficiaries of 11 the plan who cast a vote, a majority’’; 12 (2) by striking clause (v); 13 (3) by redesignating clause (vi) as clause (v); 14 and 15 (4) in clause (v), as so redesignated— 16 (A) by striking ‘‘(or following a determina- 17 tion under clause (v) that the plan is a system- 18 ically important plan)’’; and 19 (B) by striking ‘‘(or, in the case of a sus- 20 pension that goes into effect under clause (v), 21 at a time sufficient to allow the implementation 22 of the suspension prior to the end of the 90-day 23 period described in clause (v)(I))’’. 24 (b) IRC AMENDMENTS.—Section 432(e)(9)(H) of the 25 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S833.IS S833 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 833 IS (1) in clause (ii)— 1 (A) by striking ‘‘Except as provided in 2 clause (v), the’’ and inserting ‘‘The’’; and 3 (B) by striking ‘‘a majority of all partici- 4 pants and beneficiaries of the plan’’ and insert- 5 ing ‘‘, of the participants and beneficiaries of 6 the plan who cast a vote, a majority’’; 7 (2) by striking clause (v); 8 (3) by redesignating clause (vi) as clause (v); 9 and 10 (4) in clause (v), as so redesignated— 11 (A) by striking ‘‘(or following a determina- 12 tion under clause (v) that the plan is a system- 13 ically important plan)’’; and 14 (B) by striking ‘‘(or, in the case of a sus- 15 pension that goes into effect under clause (v), 16 at a time sufficient to allow the implementation 17 of the suspension prior to the end of the 90-day 18 period described in clause (v)(I))’’. 19 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 20 subsections (a) and (b) shall apply to any vote on the sus- 21 pension of benefits under section 305(e)(9)(H) of the Em- 22 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 23 U.S.C. 1085(e)(9)(H)) and section 432(e)(9)(H) of the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S833.IS S833 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 833 IS Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that occurs after the date 1 of enactment of this Act. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:22 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S833.IS S833 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS