[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4428 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4428

  To clarify the status of retirement benefits provided by the Young 
Women's Christian Association Retirement Fund under the benefit accrual 
 standards of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and 
                   the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 18, 2005

  Mr. Tiberi introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To clarify the status of retirement benefits provided by the Young 
Women's Christian Association Retirement Fund under the benefit accrual 
 standards of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and 
                   the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

    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 ``YWCA Retirement Plan Preservation 
Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF BENEFIT ACCRUAL STANDARDS.

    (a) Rules Relating to Reduction in Accrued Benefits Because of 
Attainment of Any Age.--
            (1) Comparison to similarly situated, younger 
        individuals.--
                    (A) In general.--A pension plan described in 
                subsection (c) shall not be treated as failing to meet 
                the requirements of section 204(b)(1)(H)(i) of the 
                Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or 
                section 411(b)(1)(H)(i) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
                1986 if a participant's entire accrued benefit, as 
                determined as of any date under the formula for 
                determining benefits as set forth in the text of the 
                plan documents, would be equal to or greater than that 
                of any similarly situated, younger individual.
                    (B) Similarly situated individual.--For purposes of 
                this paragraph, an individual is similarly situated to 
                a participant if such individual is identical to such 
                participant in every respect (including period of 
                service, compensation, position, date of hire, work 
                history, and any other respect) except for age.
                    (C) Subsidized portion of early retiremen benefit 
                disregarded.--In determining the entire accrued benefit 
                for purposes of this paragraph, the subsidized portion 
                of any early retirement benefit (including any early 
                retirement subsidy that is fully or partially included 
                or reflected in an employee's opening balance or other 
                transition benefits) shall be disregarded.
            (2) Treatment of interest accrued on hypothetical 
        account.--A pension plan described in subsection (c) under 
        which the accrued benefit payable under the plan upon 
        distribution (or any portion thereof) is expressed as the 
        balance of a hypothetical account maintained for the 
        participant shall not be treated as failing to meet the 
        requirements of section 204(b)(1)(H)(i) of the Employee 
        Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or section 
        411(b)(1)(H)(i) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 solely 
        because interest accruing on such balance is taken into 
        account.
            (3) Allowable offsets.--A pension plan described in 
        subsection (c) shall not be treated as failing to meet the 
        requirements of section 204(b)(1)(H) of the Employee Retirement 
        Income Security Act of 1974 or section 411(b)(1)(H) of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986 solely because the plan provides 
        allowable offsets against those benefits under the plan which 
        are attributable to employer contributions, based on benefits 
        which are provided under title II of the Social Security Act, 
        the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974, another plan described in 
        section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 maintained 
        by the same employer, or under any retirement program for 
        officers or employees of the Federal Government or of the 
        government of any State or political subdivision thereof. For 
        purposes of this paragraph, allowable offsets based on such 
        benefits consist of offsets equal to all or part of the actual 
        benefit payment amounts, reasonable projections or estimations 
        of such benefit payment amounts, or actuarial equivalents of 
        such actual benefit payment amounts, projections, or 
        estimations (determined on the basis of reasonable actuarial 
        assumptions).
            (4) Compliance with rules permitting disparity in plan 
        contributions or benefits.--A pension plan described in 
        subsection (c) shall not be treated as failing to meet the 
        requirements of section 204(b)(1)(H) of the Employee Retirement 
        Income Security Act of 1974 or section 411(b)(1)(H) of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986 solely because the plan provides 
        a disparity in contributions or benefits with respect to which 
        the requirements of section 401(l) of the Internal Revenue Code 
        of 1986 are met.
            (5) Pre-retirement indexing.--
                    (A) In general.--A pension plan described in 
                subsection (c) shall not be treated as failing to meet 
                the requirements of section 204(b)(1)(H) of the 
                Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or 
                section 411(b)(1)(H) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
                1986 solely because the plan provides for pre-
                retirement indexing of accrued benefits under the plan.
                    (B) Definition.--For purposes of this clause, the 
                term ``pre-retirement indexing'' means, in connection 
                with an accrued benefit, the periodic adjustment of the 
                accrued benefit by means of the application of a 
                recognized index or methodology so as to protect the 
                economic value of the benefit against inflation prior 
                to distribution.
    (b) Determinations of Accrued Benefit as Balance of Benefit 
Account.--
            (1) In general.--A pension plan described in subsection (c) 
        under which the accrued benefit payable under the plan upon 
        distribution (or any portion thereof) is expressed as the 
        balance of a hypothetical account maintained for the 
        participant shall not be treated as failing to meet the 
        requirements of section 203(a)(2) or 205(g) of the Employee 
        Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or section 411(a)(2) or 
        417(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 solely because of 
        the amount actually made available for such distribution under 
        the terms of the plan, in any case in which the applicable 
        interest rate that would be used under the terms of the plan to 
        project the amount of the participant's account balance to 
        normal retirement age is not greater than a market rate of 
        return.
            (2) Regulations.--The Secretary of the Treasury may provide 
        by regulation for rules governing the calculation of a market 
        rate of return for purposes of paragraph (1) and for 
        permissible methods of crediting interest to the account 
        (including variable interest rates) resulting in effective 
        rates of return meeting the requirements of paragraph (1).
    (c) Pension Plan Described.--A pension plan described in this 
subsection is a defined benefit plan (as defined in section 3(35) of 
the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or section 414(j) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) maintained by the Young Women's 
Christian Association Retirement Fund, a corporation created by an Act 
of the State of New York which became law on April 12, 1924.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to periods 
beginning before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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