House Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) recently introduced legislation that seeks to rescue multiemployer pension plans (MEPs) facing insolvency. Entitled the Emergency.
The bill contains provisions designed to improve the financial situation of multiemployer plans, as well as provisions for funding relief for single-employer defined benefit plans.
Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 Introduced in the House planadviser.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from planadviser.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The bill would also extend funding relief for single-employer defined benefit plans.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, has introduced the Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA).
The bill includes provisions from the previously introduced Butch Lewis Act and other provisions designed to address the worsening multiemployer pension crisis. It also contains long-expected proposals for single-employer defined benefit (DB) plan funding relief.
“The COVID-19 economic downturn has only worsened the multiemployer pension crisis and increased the urgency with which we must act to help folks whose financial security is at risk,” Neal said in a statement. “I’m committed to getting a solution to this crisis signed into law as quickly as possible and have even urged Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi to include a multiemployer fix in the next COVID-19 relief legislation the House considers.”
Indiana roofers union pension fund applies for MPRA benefit cuts
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Roofers Local No. 88 Pension Fund, Merrillville, Ind., applied to the Treasury Department to reduce benefits to avoid plan insolvency.
Pension fund trustees said in the application that benefit cuts starting in November would help the $25.4 million pension fund remain solvent. The pension fund is 61.4% funded and projected to be insolvent by the 2036 plan year.
Trustees said in the application that they have taken multiple steps to attract and retain contributing employers, and that significant contribution increases in recent years were not enough to repair the damage from the 2008 and 2014 investment losses. Other factors were decreased benefit accrual levels, lower pension contributions in neighboring locals and increased non-union competition in the area, the trustees said.