[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 607 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 607

 To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the 
    Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with respect to early retirement 
                   benefits, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 11, 2005

  Mr. Harkin introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the 
    Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with respect to early retirement 
                   benefits, 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. PROTECTION OF SUBSIDIZED EARLY RETIREMENT BENEFITS IN 
              CORPORATE MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS.

    (a) Amendment to ERISA.--Section 208 of the Employee Retirement 
Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1058) is amended by--
            (1) striking ``A pension plan'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General.--A pension plan''; and
            (2) adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Protection of Pro-Rata Share of Early Retirement Subsidy.--
If--
            ``(1) an employee, following the sale of a corporation or a 
        corporate division, liquidation, merger, consolidation, or 
        other similar transaction, continues employment in the same 
        trade or business with the employer that acquires the trade or 
        business in such transaction (referred to in this subsection as 
        the `successor employer'), and
            ``(2) the successor employer does not continue to maintain 
        any pension plan in which the employee was a participant before 
        such transaction,
        then, solely for the purpose of determining eligibility for any 
        subsidized early retirement benefit provided by such plan, 
        there shall be taken into account any periods of service with 
        the successor employer that would have been taken into account 
        had such transaction not occurred.''.
    (b) Amendment to the Internal Revenue Code.--Section 414(l) of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to mergers and consolidations 
of plans) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Protection of pro-rata share of early retirement 
        subsidy.--If--
                    ``(A) an employee, following the sale of a 
                corporation or a corporate division, liquidation, 
                merger, consolidation, or other similar transaction, 
                continues employment in the same trade or business with 
                the employer that acquires the trade or business in 
                such transaction (referred to in this paragraph as the 
                `successor employer'), and
                    ``(B) the successor employer does not continue to 
                maintain any pension plan in which the employee was a 
                participant before such transaction,
        then, solely for the purpose of determining eligibility for any 
        subsidized early retirement benefit provided by such plan, 
        there shall be taken into account any periods of service with 
        the successor employer that would have been taken into account 
        had such transaction not occurred.''.
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