S.Amdt. 499

SA 499. Mr. BROWN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill H.R. 1628, to provide for reconciliation pursuant to
title II of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year
2017; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. EMPLOYEE BENEFITS PROTECTION.

(a) Notification of Extent to Which Health Benefits Can Be
Modified or Terminated.--
(1) Inclusion in summary plan description.--Section 102(b)
of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29
U.S.C. 1022) is amended by inserting ``; in the case of a
group health plan (as so defined), whether the provisions of
the plan permit the plan sponsor or any employer
participating in the plan to unilaterally modify or terminate
the benefits under the plan with respect to employees,
retired employees, and beneficiaries, and when and to what
extent benefits under the plan are fully vested with respect
to employees, retired employees, and beneficiaries'' after
``the name and address of such issuer''.
(2) Presumption that retired employee health benefits
cannot be modified or terminated.--Section 502 of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C.
1132) is amended by adding at the end the following new
subsection:
``(n) In the case of a suit brought under this title by a
participant or beneficiary relating to benefits of a retired
employee or the dependents of a retired employee under a
group health plan (as defined in section 733(a)(1)), the
presumption for purposes of such suit shall be that as of the
date an employee retires or completes 20 years of service
with the employer, benefits available under the plan during
retirement of the employee are fully vested and cannot be
modified or terminated for the life of the employee or, if
longer, the life of the employee's spouse. This presumption
can be overcome only upon a showing, by clear and convincing
evidence, that the terms of the group health plan allow for a
modification or termination of benefits available under the
plan and that the employee, prior to becoming a participant
in the plan, was made aware, in clear and unambiguous terms,
that the plan allowed for such modification or termination of
benefits.''.
(b) Protection of Retirees Under Certain Collectively
Bargained Agreements.--Section 8 of the National Labor
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``(h) It shall be an unfair labor practice for any labor
organization and any employer to enter into any contract or
agreement, express or implied, whereby the organization and
employer agree to modify the terms of any previous agreement
in a manner that would result in a reduction or termination
of retiree health insurance benefits provided to an employee
or a dependent of an employee under the previous agreement,
if such modification of the terms of the previous agreement
occurs after the date on which the employee retires.''.

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