[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 578 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 578

   To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow penalty-free 
 distributions from qualified retirement plans on account of the death 
               or disability of the participant's spouse.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 2001

 Mrs. Emerson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow penalty-free 
 distributions from qualified retirement plans on account of the death 
               or disability of the participant's spouse.

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

SECTION 1. DISTRIBUTIONS FROM QUALIFIED RETIREMENT PLANS ON ACCOUNT OF 
              DEATH OR DISABILITY OF PARTICIPANT'S SPOUSE.

    (a) Distributions Permitted.--
            (1) 401(k) plans.--Subclause (I) of section 401(k)(2)(B)(i) 
        of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (defining qualified cash 
        or deferred arrangement) is amended by striking ``, death, or 
        disability'' and inserting ``or the death or disability of the 
        participant or the participant's spouse''.
            (2) 403(b) annuities.--
                    (A) Clause (ii) of section 403(b)(7)(A) of such 
                Code is amended by inserting ``(or, if earlier, the 
                employee's spouse dies or becomes disabled (as so 
                defined)'' after ``section 72(m)(7))''.
                    (B) Subparagraph (A) of section 403(b)(11) of such 
                Code is amended by inserting before the comma at the 
                end ``or when the spouse of the employee dies or 
                becomes disabled (as so defined)''.
            (3) Roth iras.--Subparagraph (A) of section 408A(d)(2) of 
        such Code is amended--
                    (A) by inserting before the comma at the end of 
                clause (ii) ``or made to the individual on or after the 
                death of the individual's spouse'', and
                    (B) by striking clause (iii) and inserting the 
                following new clause:
                            ``(iii) attributable to the disability 
                        (within the meaning of section 72(m)(7)) of the 
                        individual or the individual's spouse, or''.
    (b) Penalty-Free Withdrawals.--Subparagraph (A) of section 72(t)(2) 
of such Code is amended--
            (1) by inserting before the comma at the end of clause (ii) 
        ``or made to the employee on or after the death of the 
        employee's spouse'', and
            (2) by striking clause (iii) and inserting the following 
        new clause:
                            ``(iii) attributable to the disability 
                        (within the meaning of subsection (m)(7)) of 
                        the employee or the employee's spouse,''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to distributions after December 31, 2001.
                                 <all>