[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 659 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 659

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require pension plans to 
 provide adequate notice to individuals whose future benefit accruals 
        are being significantly reduced, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 18, 1999

  Mr. Moynihan (for himself, Mr. Robb, and Mr. Kerrey) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                                Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require pension plans to 
 provide adequate notice to individuals whose future benefit accruals 
        are being significantly reduced, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pension Right to Know Act''.

SEC. 2. NOTICE REQUIREMENTS FOR LARGE PENSION PLANS SIGNIFICANTLY 
              REDUCING FUTURE PENSION BENEFIT ACCRUALS.

    (a) Plan Requirement.--Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986 (relating to qualified pension, profit-sharing, and stock bonus 
plans) is amended by inserting after paragraph (34) the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(35) Notice requirements for large defined benefit plans 
        significantly reducing future benefit accruals.--
                    ``(A) In general.--If a large defined benefit plan 
                adopts an amendment which has the effect of 
                significantly reducing the rate of future benefit 
                accrual of 1 or more participants, a trust which is 
                part of such plan shall not constitute a qualified 
                trust under this section unless, after adoption of such 
                amendment and not less than 15 days before its 
                effective date, the plan administrator provides--
                            ``(i) a written statement of benefit change 
                        described in subparagraph (B) to each 
                        applicable individual, and
                            ``(ii) a written notice setting forth the 
                        plan amendment and its effective date to each 
                        employee organization representing participants 
                        in the plan.
                Any such notice may be provided to a person designated, 
                in writing, by the person to which it would otherwise 
                be provided. The plan administrator shall not be 
                treated as failing to meet the requirements of this 
                subparagraph merely because the statement or notice is 
                provided before the adoption of the plan amendment if 
                no material modification of the amendment occurs before 
                the amendment is adopted.
                    ``(B) Statement of benefit change.--A statement of 
                benefit change described in this subparagraph shall--
                            ``(i) be written in a manner calculated to 
                        be understood by the average plan participant, 
                        and
                            ``(ii) include the information described in 
                        subparagraph (C).
                    ``(C) Information contained in statement of benefit 
                change.--The information described in this subparagraph 
                includes the following:
                            ``(i) Notice setting forth the plan 
                        amendment and its effective date.
                            ``(ii) A comparison of the following 
                        amounts under the plan with respect to an 
                        applicable individual, determined both with and 
                        without regard to the plan amendment:
                                    ``(I) The accrued benefit and the 
                                present value of the accrued benefit as 
                                of the effective date.
                                    ``(II) The projected accrued 
                                benefit and the projected present value 
                                of the accrued benefit as of the date 
                                which is 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years 
                                from the effective date and as of the 
                                normal retirement age.
                            ``(iii) A table of all annuity factors used 
                        to calculate benefits under the plan, presented 
                        in the form provided in section 72 and the 
                        regulations thereunder.
                Benefits described in clause (ii) shall be stated 
                separately and shall be calculated by using the 
                applicable mortality table and the applicable interest 
                rate under section 417(e)(3)(A).
                    ``(D) Large defined benefit plan; applicable 
                individual.--For purposes of this paragraph--
                            ``(i) Large defined benefit plan.--The term 
                        `large defined benefit plan' means any defined 
                        benefit plan which had 1,000 or more 
                        participants who had accrued a benefit under 
                        the plan (whether or not vested) as of the last 
                        day of the plan year preceding the plan year in 
                        which the plan amendment becomes effective.
                            ``(ii) Applicable individual.--The term 
                        `applicable individual' means--
                                    ``(I) each participant in the plan, 
                                and
                                    ``(II) each beneficiary who is an 
                                alternate payee (within the meaning of 
                                section 414(p)(8)) under an applicable 
                                qualified domestic relations order 
                                (within the meaning of section 
                                414(p)(1)(A)).
                    ``(E) Accrued benefit; projected retirement 
                benefit.--For purposes of this paragraph--
                            ``(i) Present value of accrued benefit.--
                        The present value of an accrued benefit of any 
                        applicable individual shall be calculated as if 
                        the accrued benefit were in the form of a 
                        single life annuity commencing at the 
                        participant's normal retirement age (and by 
                        taking into account any early retirement 
                        subsidy).
                            ``(ii) Projected accrued benefit.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--The projected 
                                accrued benefit of any applicable 
                                individual shall be calculated as if 
                                the benefit were payable in the form of 
                                a single life annuity commencing at the 
                                participant's normal retirement age 
                                (and by taking into account any early 
                                retirement subsidy).
                                    ``(II) Compensation and other 
                                assumptions.--Such benefit shall be 
                                calculated by assuming that 
                                compensation and all other benefit 
                                factors would increase for each plan 
                                year beginning after the effective date 
                                of the plan amendment at a rate equal 
                                to the median average of the CPI 
                                increase percentage (as defined in 
                                section 215(i) of the Social Security 
                                Act) for the 5 calendar years 
                                immediately preceding the calendar year 
                                before the calendar year in which such 
                                effective date occurs.
                                    ``(III) Benefit factors.--For 
                                purposes of subclause (II), the term 
                                `benefit factors' means social security 
                                benefits and all other relevant factors 
                                under section 411(b)(1)(A) used to 
                                compute benefits under the plan which 
                                had increased from the 2d plan year 
                                preceding the plan year in which the 
                                effective date of the plan amendment 
                                occurs to the 1st such preceding plan 
                                year.
                            ``(iii) Normal retirement age.--The term 
                        `normal retirement age' means the later of--
                                    ``(I) the date determined under 
                                section 411(a)(8), or
                                    ``(II) the date a plan participant 
                                attains age 62.''
    (b) Amendments to ERISA.--
            (1) Benefit statement requirement.--Section 204(h) of the 
        Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 
        1054(h)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
        paragraphs:
            ``(3)(A) If paragraph (1) applies to the adoption of a plan 
        amendment by a large defined benefit plan, the plan 
        administrator shall, after adoption of such amendment and not 
        less than 15 days before its effective date, provide with the 
        notice under paragraph (1) a written statement of benefit 
        change described in subparagraph (B) to each applicable 
        individual.
            ``(B) A statement of benefit change described in this 
        subparagraph shall--
                    ``(i) be written in a manner calculated to be 
                understood by the average plan participant, and
                    ``(ii) include the information described in 
                subparagraph (C).
            ``(C) The information described in this subparagraph 
        includes the following:
                    ``(i) A comparison of the following amounts under 
                the plan with respect to an applicable individual, 
                determined both with and without regard to the plan 
                amendment:
                            ``(I) The accrued benefit and the present 
                        value of the accrued benefit as of the 
                        effective date.
                            ``(II) The projected accrued benefit and 
                        the projected present value of the accrued 
                        benefit as of the date which is 3 years, 5 
                        years, and 10 years from the effective date and 
                        as of the normal retirement age.
                    ``(ii) A table of all annuity factors used to 
                calculate benefits under the plan, presented in the 
                form provided in section 72 of the Internal Revenue 
                Code of 1986 and the regulations thereunder.
        Benefits described in clause (i) shall be stated separately and 
        shall be calculated by using the applicable mortality table and 
        the applicable interest rate under section 417(e)(3)(A) of such 
        Code.
            ``(D) For purposes of this paragraph--
                    ``(i) The term `large defined benefit plan' means 
                any defined benefit plan which had 1,000 or more 
                participants who had accrued a benefit under the plan 
                (whether or not vested) as of the last day of the plan 
                year preceding the plan year in which the plan 
                amendment becomes effective.
                    ``(ii) The term `applicable individual' means an 
                individual described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of 
                paragraph (1).
            ``(E) For purposes of this paragraph--
                    ``(i) The present value of an accrued benefit of 
                any applicable individual shall be calculated as if the 
                accrued benefit were in the form of a single life 
                annuity commencing at the participant's normal 
                retirement age (and by taking into account any early 
                retirement subsidy).
                    ``(ii)(I) The projected accrued benefit of any 
                applicable individual shall be calculated as if the 
                benefit were payable in the form of a single life 
                annuity commencing at the participant's normal 
                retirement age (and by taking into account any early 
                retirement subsidy).
                    ``(II) Such benefit shall be calculated by assuming 
                that compensation and all other benefit factors would 
                increase for each plan year beginning after the 
                effective date of the plan amendment at a rate equal to 
                the median average of the CPI increase percentage (as 
                defined in section 215(i) of the Social Security Act) 
                for the 5 calendar years immediately preceding the 
                calendar year before the calendar year in which such 
                effective date occurs.
                    ``(III) For purposes of subclause (II), the term 
                `benefit factors' means social security benefits and 
                all other relevant factors under section 204(b)(1)(A) 
                used to compute benefits under the plan which had 
                increased from the 2d plan year preceding the plan year 
                in which the effective date of the plan amendment 
                occurs to the 1st such preceding plan year.
                    ``(iii) The term `normal retirement age' means the 
                later of--
                            ``(I) the date determined under section 
                        3(24), or
                            ``(II) the date a plan participant attains 
                        age 62.
            ``(4) A plan administrator shall not be treated as failing 
        to meet the requirements of this subsection merely because the 
        notice or statement is provided before the adoption of the plan 
        amendment if no material modification of the amendment occurs 
        before the amendment is adopted.''
            (2) Conforming amendment.--Section 204(h)(1) of such Act 
        (29 U.S.C. 1054(h)(1)) is amended by inserting ``(including any 
        written statement of benefit change if required by paragraph 
        (3))'' after ``written notice''.
    (c) Effective Dates.--
            (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
        apply to plan amendments taking effect in plan years beginning 
        on or after the earlier of--
                    (A) the later of--
                            (i) January 1, 1999, or
                            (ii) the date on which the last of the 
                        collective bargaining agreements pursuant to 
                        which the plan is maintained terminates 
                        (determined without regard to any extension 
                        thereof after the date of the enactment of this 
                        Act), or
                    (B) January 1, 2001.
            (2) Exception where notice given.--The amendments made by 
        this section shall not apply to any plan amendment for which 
        written notice was given to participants or their 
        representatives before March 17, 1999, without regard to 
        whether the amendment was adopted before such date.
            (3) Special rule.--The period for providing any notice 
        required by, or any notice the contents of which are changed 
        by, the amendments made by this Act shall not end before the 
        date which is 6 months after the date of the enactment of this 
        Act.
                                 <all>