In the Senate of the United States,
December 18, 2010.
Amendments:
That the bill from the House of Representatives
(H.R. 4915) entitled An Act to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust
Fund, to amend title 49, United States Code, to extend authorizations for the
airport improvement program, and for other purposes.
, do pass with the
following
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:
Definition of eligible plan year
Amendment to ERISA
Clause (v) of section 303(c)(2)(D) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1083(c)(2)(D)), as added by section 201(a)(1) of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010, is amended—
by
striking on or after the date of the enactment of this
subparagraph
and inserting on or after June 25, 2010 (March 10,
2010, in the case of an eligible plan)
, and
by adding at the end the following new sentence: “For purposes of the preceding sentence, a plan shall be treated as an eligible plan only if, as of the date of the election with respect to the plan under clause (i)—
the plan sponsor is not a debtor in a case under title 11, United States Code, or similar Federal or State law,
there are no unpaid minimum required contributions with respect to the plan for purposes of section 4971 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (imposing an excise tax when minimum required contributions are not paid by the due date for the plan year),
there are no outstanding liens in favor of the plan under subsection (k), and
the plan sponsor has not initiated a distress termination of the plan under section 4041.
.
Amendment to Internal Revenue Code of 1986
Clause (v) of section 430(c)(2)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by section 201(b)(1) of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010, is amended—
by
striking on or after the date of the enactment of this
subparagraph
and inserting on or after June 25, 2010 (March 10,
2010, in the case of an eligible plan)
, and
by adding at the end the following new sentence: “For purposes of the preceding sentence, a plan shall be treated as an eligible plan only if, as of the date of the election with respect to the plan under clause (i)—
the plan sponsor is not a debtor in a case under title 11, United States Code, or similar Federal or State law,
there are no unpaid minimum required contributions with respect to the plan for purposes of section 4971 (imposing an excise tax when minimum required contributions are not paid by the due date for the plan year),
there are no outstanding liens in favor of the plan under subsection (k), and
the plan sponsor has not initiated a distress termination of the plan under section 4041 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
.
Effective date
The amendments made by this section shall take effect as if included in the amendments made by the provisions of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 to which the amendments relate.
Eligible charity plans
Definition of eligible charity plans
In general
Section 104(d) of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, as added by section 202(b) of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
Eligible charity plan defined
For purposes of this section, a plan shall be treated as an eligible charity plan for a plan year if—
the plan is maintained by one or more employers employing employees who are accruing benefits based on service for the plan year,
such employees are employed in at least 20 States,
more than 98 percent of such employees are employed by an employer described in section 501(c)(3) of such Code and the primary exempt purpose of each such employer is to provide services with respect to children, and
the plan sponsor elects (at such time and in such form and manner as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury) to be so treated.
.
Effective date
The amendment made by this subsection shall take effect as if included in the amendment made by the provision of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 to which the amendment relates (determined after application of the amendment made by subsection (c)), except that a plan sponsor may elect to apply such amendment to plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2011.
Regulations
The Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the amendments made by section 202(b) of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 and the amendment made by subsection (a).
Application of new rules to eligible charity plans
In general
Paragraph (2) of section 202(c) of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 is amended to read as follows:
Eligible charity plans
The amendments made by subsection (b) shall apply to plan years beginning after December 31, 2010, except that a plan sponsor may elect to apply such amendments to plan years beginning after an earlier date.
.
Effective date
The amendment made by this subsection shall take effect as if included in the amendment made by the provision of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 to which the amendment relates.
Suspension of certain funding level limitations
Limitations on benefit accruals
Section 203 of the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–458; 122 Stat. 5118) is amended—
by
striking the first plan year beginning during the period beginning on
October 1, 2008, and ending on September 30, 2009
and inserting
any plan year beginning during the period beginning on October 1, 2008,
and ending on December 31, 2011
;
by
striking substituting
and all that follows through for
such plan year
and inserting substituting for such percentage
the plan’s adjusted funding target attainment percentage for the last plan year
ending before September 30, 2009,
; and
by
striking for the preceding plan year is greater
and inserting
for such last plan year is greater
.
Social security level-income options
ERISA amendment
Section
206(g)(3)(E) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 is amended
by adding at the end the following new sentence: For purposes of
applying clause (i) in the case of payments the annuity starting date for which
occurs on or before December 31, 2011, payments under a social security
leveling option shall be treated as not in excess of the monthly amount paid
under a single life annuity (plus an amount not in excess of a social security
supplement described in the last sentence of section
204(b)(1)(G)).
.
IRC amendment
Section 436(d)(5)
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the
following new sentence: For purposes of applying subparagraph (A) in the
case of payments the annuity starting date for which occurs on or before
December 31, 2011, payments under a social security leveling option shall be
treated as not in excess of the monthly amount paid under a single life annuity
(plus an amount not in excess of a social security supplement described in the
last sentence of section 411(a)(9)).
.
Effective date
In general
The amendments made by this subsection shall apply to annuity payments the annuity starting date for which occurs on or after January 1, 2011.
Permitted application
A plan shall not be treated as failing to meet the requirements of sections 206(g) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (as amended by this subsection) and section 436(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as so amended) if the plan sponsor elects to apply the amendments made by this subsection to payments the annuity starting date for which occurs before January 1, 2011.
Repeal of related provisions
The provisions of, and the amendments made by, section 203 of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 are repealed and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–458; 122 Stat. 5118) shall be applied as if such section had never been enacted.
Optional use of 30-year amortization periods
Amendment to ERISA
Paragraph (8) of
section 304(b) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as
amended by the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and
Pension Relief Act of 2010, is amended by striking after August 31,
2008
each place it appears in subparagraphs (A)(i), (B)(i)(I), and
(B)(i)(II), and inserting on or after June 30, 2008
.
Amendment to Internal revenue Code of 1986
Paragraph (8) of section 431(b) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by the Preservation of Access to Care
for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010, is amended by
striking after August 31, 2008
each place it appears in
subparagraphs (A)(i) and (B)(i)(I) and inserting on or after June 30,
2008
.
Effective date and special rules
The amendments made by this section shall take effect as of the first day of the first plan year beginning on or after June 30, 2008, except that any election a plan sponsor makes pursuant to this section or the amendments made thereby that affects the plan’s funding standard account for any plan year beginning before October 1, 2009, shall be disregarded for purposes of applying the provisions of section 305 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and section 432 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to that plan year.
Amend the title so as to read: An Act to amend
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make technical corrections to the pension
funding provisions of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare
Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of
2010.
.
Secretary