[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3005 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3005

  To amend title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
  1974 to improve disclosure of the funding status of single-employer 
                             pension plans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 4, 2003

    Mr. Doggett (for himself, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. 
  McDermott, Mr. Sandlin, Mr. Stark, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Becerra, Mr. 
Matsui, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Hastings of 
 Florida, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Rush, Mr. Wu, Ms. Kilpatrick, 
   Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Ms. Lee, Mr. Lampson, Ms. Solis, Ms. Millender-
McDonald, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Baird, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. 
  Farr, Ms. McCarthy of Missouri, and Mr. Strickland) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
                             the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
  1974 to improve disclosure of the funding status of single-employer 
                             pension plans.

    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 Security Disclosure Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN INFORMATION 
              REGARDING THE ASSETS AND LIABILITIES OF CERTAIN 
              UNDERFUNDED SINGLE-EMPLOYER PLANS.

    (a) In General.--Section 4010(c) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1310(c)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(c) Public Disclosure of Information.--
            ``(1) Public information.--Except as provided in paragraph 
        (3), the contents of records, documents, and other information 
        filed with the corporation pursuant to subsection (a) shall be 
        public information and the corporation shall make any such 
        information available for inspection in the principal office of 
        the corporation and shall, upon written request of any 
        participant or beneficiary, furnish to such participant or 
        beneficiary a written copy of any such information. The 
        corporation may by regulation provide for a reasonable charge 
        to cover the cost of furnishing any such copy of such 
        information.
            ``(2) Disclosure on the internet and other media.----
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of any plan whose 
                funding ratio for the most recent reporting period was 
                less than 90 percent, the corporation shall--
                            ``(i) provide by regulation for timely 
                        disclosure in summary form of the contents of 
                        records, documents, and other information filed 
                        thereafter with the corporation in connection 
                        with the plan pursuant to subsection (a) on a 
                        website maintained by the corporation on the 
                        Internet and other appropriate media, and
                            ``(ii) immediately upon making the 
                        disclosure required under clause (i), transmit 
                        to the plan administrator, in the summary form 
                        described in clause (i), a copy of the material 
                        required to be disclosed under clause (i).
                    ``(B) Funding ratio.--For purposes of this 
                paragraph, the term `funding ratio' for a reporting 
                period means the ratio of--
                            ``(i) the assets of the plan described in 
                        subsection (a)(1) as of the end of the 
                        reporting period, to
                            ``(ii) the liabilities of the plan 
                        described in subsection (a)(1) as of the end of 
                        the reporting period.
            ``(3) Direct provision of information to participants and 
        beneficiaries.--Within 30 days after receipt of material 
        transmitted to the plan administrator pursuant to paragraph 
        (2)(A)(ii), the plan administrator shall provide a copy of such 
        material to each participant and beneficiary under the plan.
            ``(4) Exception for confidential information.--Paragraphs 
        (1), (2), and (3) shall not apply with respect to information 
        described in subsection (a) which the corporation has 
        identified by regulation as confidential information.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to information provided to the Pension Benefit 
Guaranty Corporation pursuant to section 4010 of the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 with respect to reporting 
periods ending on or after December 31, 2003.
                                 <all>