[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4590 Introduced in House (IH)]


109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4590

 To amend title 11 of the United States Code to provide fair treatment 
                         of employee benefits.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 16, 2005

   Mr. Ford introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 11 of the United States Code to provide fair treatment 
                         of employee benefits.

    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 ``Employee Retirement Preservation 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FAIR TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEE BENEFITS.

    (a) Definition of Claim.--Section 101(5) of title 11, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``or'' after the 
        semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) right or interest in equity securities of the 
                debtor, or an affiliate of the debtor, held in a 
                pension plan (within the meaning of section 3(2) of the 
                Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 
                U.S.C. 1002(2))) for the benefit of an individual who 
                is not an officer or director of the debtor, if such 
                securities were attributable to--
                            ``(i) employer contributions by the debtor 
                        or an affiliate of the debtor other than 
                        elective deferrals (within the meaning of 
                        section 402(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
                        1986), and any earnings thereon; and
                            ``(ii) elective deferrals (and any earnings 
                        thereon) that are required to be invested in 
                        such securities under the terms of the plan or 
                        at the direction of a person other than the 
                        individual or any beneficiary,
                except that this subparagraph shall not apply to any 
                such securities during any period during which the 
                individual or any beneficiary has the right to direct 
                the plan to divest such securities and to reinvest an 
                equivalent amount in other investment options of the 
                plan;''.
    (b) Priorities.--Section 507(a)(5) of title 11, United States Code, 
is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B), by indenting the left margin of 
        clauses (i) and (ii) 2 ems to the right and redesignating such 
        clauses as subclauses (I) and (II), respectively;
            (2) by indenting the left margin of subparagraphs (A) and 
        (B) 2 ems to the right and redesignating such subparagraphs as 
        clauses (i) and (ii), respectively;
            (3) in the matter preceding clause (i), as so redesignated, 
        by striking ``Fifth'' and all that follows through ``plan--'' 
        and inserting the following: ``Fifth--
                    ``(A) allowed unsecured claims for contributions to 
                an employee benefit plan--'';
            (4) by striking the period at the end and inserting the 
        following: ``; or''; and
            (5) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) allowed unsecured claims with respect to 
                rights or interests in equity securities of the debtor, 
                or an affiliate of the debtor, that are held in a 
                pension plan (within the meaning of section 3(2) of the 
                Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974), 
                without regard to when services were rendered or 
                limitation in amount, and measured by the market value 
                of the stock at the time the stock was contributed to, 
                or purchased by, the plan.''.

SEC. 3. WAGE PRIORITY AND EMPLOYEE BENEFIT CAP.

    Section 507(a) of title 11, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``$10,000'' and inserting 
        ``$13,500''; and
            (2) in paragraph (5)(A)(ii)(I), as so redesignated by 
        section 2, by striking ``$10,000'' and inserting ``$13,500''.

SEC. 4. SUBORDINATION.

    Section 510(b) of title 11, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting ``(other than a claim described in section 105(5)(C))'' after 
``claim'' the 1st place it appears.
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