[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 82 (Monday, June 26, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H5100-H5101]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CHURCH PLAN PARITY AND ENTANGLEMENT PREVENTION ACT

  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
Senate bill (S. 1309) to amend title I of the Employee Retirement 
Income Security Act of 1974 to provide for the preemption of State law 
in certain cases relating to certain church plans.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                S. 1309

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. PURPOSE.

       The purpose of this Act is only to clarify the application 
     to a church plan that is a welfare plan of State insurance 
     laws that require or solely relate to licensing, solvency, 
     insolvency, or the status of such plan as a single employer 
     plan.

     SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF CHURCH WELFARE PLAN STATUS UNDER 
                   STATE INSURANCE LAW.

       (a) In General.--For purposes of determining the status of 
     a church plan that is a welfare plan under provisions of a 
     State insurance law described in subsection (b), such a 
     church plan (and any trust under such plan) shall be deemed 
     to be a plan sponsored by a single employer that reimburses 
     costs from general church assets, or purchases insurance 
     coverage with general church assets, or both.
       (b) State Insurance Law.--A State insurance law described 
     in this subsection is a law that--
       (1) requires a church plan, or an organization described in 
     section 414(e)(3)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 
     section 3(33)(C)(i) of the Employee Retirement Income 
     Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1002(33)(C)(i)) to the extent 
     that it is administering or funding such a plan, to be 
     licensed; or
       (2) relates solely to the solvency or insolvency of a 
     church plan (including participation in State guaranty funds 
     and associations).
       (c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
       (1) Church plan.--The term ``church plan'' has the meaning 
     given such term by section 414(e) of the Internal Revenue 
     Code of 1986 and section 3(33) of the Employee Retirement 
     Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1002(33)).
       (2) Reimburses costs from general church assets.--The term 
     ``reimburses costs from general church assets'' means 
     engaging in an activity that is not the spreading of risk 
     solely for the purposes of the provisions of State insurance 
     laws described in subsection (b).
       (3) Welfare plan.--The term ``welfare plan''--
       (A) means any church plan to the extent that such plan 
     provides medical, surgical, or hospital care or benefits, or 
     benefits in the event of sickness, accident, disability, 
     death or unemployment, or vacation benefits, apprenticeship 
     or other training programs, or day care centers, scholarship 
     funds, or prepaid legal services; and
       (B) does not include any entity, such as a health insurance 
     issuer described in section 9832(b)(2) of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986 or a health maintenance organization 
     described in section 9832(b)(3) of such Code, or any other 
     organization that does business with the church plan or 
     organization sponsoring or maintaining such a plan.
       (d) Enforcement Authority.--Notwithstanding any other 
     provision of this section, for purposes of enforcing 
     provisions of State insurance laws that apply to a church 
     plan that is a welfare plan, the church plan shall be subject 
     to State enforcement as if the church plan were an insurer 
     licensed by the State.
       (e) Application of Section.--Except as provided in 
     subsection (d), the application of this section is limited to 
     determining the status of a church plan that is a welfare 
     plan under the provisions of State insurance laws described 
     in subsection (b). This section shall not otherwise be 
     construed to recharacterize the status, or modify or affect 
     the rights, of any plan participant or beneficiary, including 
     participants or beneficiaries who make plan contributions.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Boehner) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner).


                             General Leave

  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks on S. 1309.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 1309, to clarify the 
status of church-sponsored health plans. Church plans are treated 
similarly to the health plans for the employees of State and local 
governments. These health plans are defined in the Employee Retirement 
Income Security Act, or, as we know it, ERISA, and then excluded from 
its provisions. This exclusion is important because of the need to 
protect unnecessary Government entanglement in the internal affairs of 
churches.
  Ironically, our Federal effort to prevent Government intrusion has 
left the status of these church programs under State laws uncertain. 
State laws have developed without regard to the special characteristics 
of church benefit programs. Accordingly, these church programs are 
potentially subject to regulation by individual States, which was never 
intended when church plans were designed.
  The impetus for the present legislation is twofold. First, from time 
to time, State insurance commissioners raise questions as to the need 
for church plans to obtain a license as an insurance company; and, 
secondly, due to their exclusion from ERISA, many insurance companies 
and health care providers are ambivalent about their capacity to 
contract with church plans for coverage or services.

[[Page H5101]]

  The bill, S. 1309, attempts to solve both these problems by 
prohibiting a State from acquiring any church plan to obtain a license 
as an insurance company in that State and clarifies that a church plan 
should be treated as a single employer plan.
  We have worked with Senator Sessions; the Church Alliance, the Church 
Pension Boards of 32 Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic denominations; 
the administration; and the National Association of Insurance 
Commissioners to revise H.R. 2183, a bill originally introduced by 
myself and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews) and a companion 
bill introduced by Senator Sessions in the other body.
  The product of this process is S. 1309, as amended. This legislation 
clarifies the status of church welfare plans under certain specified 
State insurance law requirements, particularly the need to be licensed 
as an insurance company. With this clarification and the deeming of 
church plans to be single employer plans, churches will have greater 
bargaining power with health insurance companies and health network 
providers when purchasing coverage for their employees.
  Additionally, the bill keeps intact certain regulatory 
responsibilities that State insurance departments presently have to 
protect consumers, such as regulations that prevent fraud and 
misrepresentations as to coverage.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the minority does not object to the passage of this 
bill. I would note, for the record, that we would have preferred the 
bill follow regular order and have hearings and committee markups. But 
we certainly do not object to its passage. I support passage of the 
bill.
  I thank my friend, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), for his 
cooperation with the administration, the National Association of 
Insurance Commissioners, and all of the interested parties in making 
this a reality.
  As the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner) noted, this bill is closely 
patterned after H.R. 2183, which he and I introduced into the House 
June 14 of last year, and it accomplishes two important objectives. The 
first is balance.
  It is important that the rights of individual plan participants in 
church-held plans be protected, that all of the consumer and fiduciary 
protections to which they are entitled are preserved. This bill does 
that.
  It also provides for proper balance between the legitimate interests 
of the States and regulating the fiduciary health of health plans and 
projecting proper State regulation of health plans. It balances that 
against the need for church health plans to have similar contract 
authority with health plans around the country.
  I believe it will, as the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner) just 
said, facilitate the negotiating position of health plans when they 
purchase health and health insurance services to benefit their members.
  Importantly, this legislation promotes clarity. Those who would offer 
services to church plans, those who administer church plans, and those 
who benefit from church plans will now have the benefit of a clear 
statement of the intent of this Congress with respect to legal 
arrangements underlying their health plans.
  This is a technical bill with a very common sense purpose. Its 
technicalities are a bit difficult to follow, but its purposes are very 
clear. We want the men and women who work for church and religious 
organizations around the country to have the very best protection and 
the very best choice of benefits that can be reasonably made available 
by their employer, and we want those benefits to be offered free of any 
entanglement by policymakers in the legitimate religious preferences of 
the employing organization.
  Because I believe that this legislation accomplishes both of those 
objectives, I support it.
  Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers on our side, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. RAMSTAD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 1309, a bill 
to clarify the status of church-sponsored employee benefit plans under 
state law.
  Currently, church-sponsored employee benefit plans are exempt from 
ERISA and therefore are not exempt from state insurance laws like other 
employer-sponsored plans. Even so, these plans have generally operated 
as if they were exempt from state law. It is unfair for church plans to 
be potentially subject to greater regulations than other employer-
sponsored plans, and it does not make sense to subject church employee 
benefit plans to state insurance laws that are not designed or equipped 
to deal with these unique plans.
  My home state of Minnesota is one of four states that already 
provides an exemption for church plans. However, church plans have no 
legal certainty when they provide benefits in the remaining 46 states. 
This has caused many insurers to refuse to do business with church 
plans because these plans could be considered unlicensed entities.
  Last year, I heard from the Board of Pensions of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church in America, headquartered in Minneapolis, about the 
need to clarify the status of church benefit plans. I especially 
appreciated the advice and counsel of Bob Rydland and John Kapanke 
about this urgent problem affecting more than one million clergy and 
lay workers across the United States.
  Because the rules affecting church plans are found in the tax code, I 
asked Chairman Archer of the Ways and Means Committee, with the support 
of 13 bipartisan colleagues, to support a legislative correction to 
this problem. I am pleased this legislation before us today 
accomplishes our objective.
  S. 1309 will clarify that church employee benefit plans are not 
insurance companies under state insurance laws. This bill was crafted 
with the help of state insurance commissioners, and it does not prevent 
states from enacting legislation targeted at these plans.
  I am also grateful to Chairman Boehner and Ranking Member Andrews of 
the Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations 
for their work on this important issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important 
legislation to protect the employee benefits of America's church 
workers.
  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from New Jersey (Mr. 
Andrews) for his comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the Senate bill, S. 1309.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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