[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 96 (Friday, July 17, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE SMALL BUSINESS EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT PROTECTION ACT OF 1998

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                           HON. SAM GEJDENSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 16, 1998

  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Small 
Business Employee Retirement Protection Act of 1998. This legislation 
will bring security to millions of small business employees in 
Connecticut and throughout the nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I wrote this legislation in part because of a problem in 
my district. Late last year, we in eastern Connecticut learned just how 
vulnerable pension plans are. The employees of Emergi-Lite, a small 
manufacturing business in Westbrook, Connecticut, were informed that 
their plan was basically bankrupt. An unscrupulous, unqualified manager 
embezzled about $2 million--nearly all the assets in the plan. The 
employees had no idea their life savings were being squandered. They 
had no information about the total value of the plan or how the total 
value of the plan or how the assets were being invested. They were left 
in the dark and almost robbed blind.
  The bill I introduce today will reduce the chances that what happened 
at Emergi-Lite will happen again. This legislation requires pensions to 
be managed by qualified professionals, such as a bank or mutual fund 
company. Moreover, it requires plan managers to provide beneficiaries 
with information about total asset value and how funds are invested. 
Passage of this bill be ensure that people working for small businesses 
will know where their hand-earned dollars are going. They deserve 
nothing less.
  If enacted into law, the Small Business Employee Retirement 
Protection Act will ensure that this sort of tragic loss of retirement 
savings does not happen again by requiring that pension assets beheld 
in a bank or other qualified financial institution. In addition, the 
bill would give employees the right to find out the status of their 
plan's assets and would require that plans inform participants of that 
right.
  I am happy to introduce this legislation with my five colleagues from 
Connecticut: Ms. DeLauro, who also represents many of the affected 
employees, Mrs. Kennelly, Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Shays, and Mr. Maloney. All 
of us were disturbed about what happened in Westbrook. This is an 
example of how our delegation works together to support common-sense 
legislation that will really make a difference for people across our 
region.

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