H.R. 2830: The Pension Protection Act of 2005

Publication Date: November 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Labor

Type:

Abstract:

On June 30, 2005, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce favorably reported H.R. 2830 (Boehner), The Pension Protection Act of 2005. The Committee on Ways and Means approved an amended version of H.R. 2830 on November 9. Both versions of the bill would reform the funding rules for single- and multiemployer-defined benefit pensions; require sponsors to disclose more information about pension funding; restrict benefit payments and benefit accruals in underfunded plans; increase the premiums that plan sponsors pay to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; and clarify, prospectively, that cash balance pension plans do not violate the prohibition on age discrimination in employee benefits. Amendments passed by the Committee on Ways and Means would delay the effective date of the new funding requirements for defined benefit plans by one year, until 2007, and would impose a fee of $1,250 per plan participant on employers that terminate their pension plans in bankruptcy. The fee would apply for three years after a firm emerges from bankruptcy.

This report will be updated as developments warrant.