Vested Employee Pension Benefit Protection Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4043 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to protect employees in the building and construction industry who are participants in multiemployer plans, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 25, 2019 Mr. LUETKEMEYER (for himself, Mr. CLAY, Mr. BOST, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, and Mr. SHIMKUS) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently de- termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to protect employees in the building and construction industry who are participants in multiemployer plans, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Vested Employee Pen- 4 sion Benefit Protection Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4043.IH H4043 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4043 IH SEC. 2. MINIMUM AGE FOR DISTRIBUTIONS DURING WORK- 1 ING RETIREMENT. 2 (a) INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986.—Section 3 401(a)(36) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 4 amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(36) DISTRIBUTIONS DURING WORKING RE- 6 TIREMENT.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A trust forming part 8 of a pension plan shall not be treated as failing 9 to constitute a qualified trust under this section 10 solely because the plan provides that a distribu- 11 tion may be made from such trust to an em- 12 ployee who has attained age 62 and who is not 13 separated from employment at the time of such 14 distribution. 15 ‘‘(B) CERTAIN EMPLOYEES IN THE BUILD- 16 ING AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY.— 17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In order to allow 18 for unique conditions of employment in the 19 building and construction industry, sub- 20 paragraph (A) shall be applied by sub- 21 stituting ‘age 55’ for ‘age 62’ in the case 22 of a multiemployer plan described in sec- 23 tion 4203(b)(1)(B)(i) of the Employee Re- 24 tirement Income Security Act of 1974, 25 with respect to individuals who were par- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4043.IH H4043 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4043 IH ticipants in such plan on or before April 1 30, 2013, if— 2 ‘‘(I) the trust to which subpara- 3 graph (A) applies was in existence be- 4 fore January 1, 1970, 5 ‘‘(II) before December 31, 2011, 6 at a time when the plan provided that 7 distributions may be made to an em- 8 ployee who has attained age 55 and 9 who is not separated from employ- 10 ment at the time of such distribution, 11 the plan received at least 1 written 12 determination from the Internal Rev- 13 enue Service that the trust to which 14 subparagraph (A) applies constituted 15 a qualified trust under this section, 16 and 17 ‘‘(III) the plan provides that the 18 benefit accrued on account of service 19 performed after distributions begin 20 under subparagraph (A) (as modified 21 by subparagraph (B) without regard 22 to this subclause) shall be treated and 23 paid as a pension separate from the 24 pension earned before such distribu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4043.IH H4043 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4043 IH tions begin, and that payment of such 1 separate benefit shall not commence 2 until the employee attains the plan’s 3 normal retirement age. 4 ‘‘(ii) SUSPENSION OF PAYMENTS IF 5 PLAN IN ENDANGERED OR CRITICAL STA- 6 TUS.—Clause (i) shall not apply to a mul- 7 tiemployer plan during the period for 8 which the multiemployer plan is in endan- 9 gered or critical status (as defined under 10 section 432) beginning after the first year 11 the plan is in either of such statuses and 12 ending with the first plan year for which 13 the plan is not in either of such statuses.’’. 14 (b) EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY ACT 15 OF 1974.—Section 3(2)(A) of Employee Retirement In- 16 come Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1002(2)(A)) is 17 amended by inserting before the period at the end the fol- 18 lowing: ‘‘(age 55 in the case of a plan to which section 19 401(a)(36)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 ap- 20 plies)’’. 21 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 22 this section shall apply to distributions made before, on, 23 or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4043.IH H4043 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS