Bill Summary & Status for the 106th Congress

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H.R.1590
Sponsor: Rep Gejdenson, Sam(introduced 4/28/1999)
Latest Major Action: 5/21/1999 Referred to House subcommittee
Title: To provide retirement security for all Americans.
Jump to: Titles, Status, Committees, Related Bill Details, Amendments, Cosponsors, Summary

TITLE(S):  (italics indicate a title for a portion of a bill)
STATUS: (color indicates Senate actions)

          See also: Related House Committee Documents
4/28/1999:
Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce, Government Reform, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
4/28/1999:
Referred to House Ways and Means
4/28/1999:
Referred to House Education and the Workforce
5/21/1999:
Referred to the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations.
4/28/1999:
Referred to House Government Reform
5/18/1999:
Referred to the Subcommittee on Civil Service.
4/28/1999:
Referred to House Transportation and Infrastructure
4/28/1999:
Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

COMMITTEE(S):
RELATED BILL DETAILS:

***NONE***


AMENDMENT(S):

***NONE***


COSPONSORS(117), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]:     (Sort: by date)

Rep Abercrombie, Neil - 7/12/1999 Rep Ackerman, Gary L. - 4/28/1999
Rep Allen, Thomas H. - 4/28/1999 Rep Andrews, Robert E. - 4/28/1999
Rep Baldacci, John Elias - 4/28/1999 Rep Berkley, Shelley - 4/28/1999
Rep Berman, Howard L. - 4/28/1999 Rep Blagojevich, Rod R. - 4/28/1999
Rep Bonior, David E. - 4/28/1999 Rep Borski, Robert A. - 6/10/1999
Rep Boswell, Leonard L. - 7/27/2000 Rep Boucher, Rick - 4/28/1999
Rep Brady, Robert - 4/28/1999 Rep Brown, Corrine - 4/28/1999
Rep Brown, Sherrod - 4/28/1999 Rep Capps, Lois - 4/28/1999
Rep Capuano, Michael E. - 4/28/1999 Rep Christensen, Donna MC - 5/12/1999
Rep Clay, William (Bill) - 4/28/1999 Rep Clayton, Eva M. - 5/5/1999
Rep Clyburn, James E. - 4/28/1999 Rep Costello, Jerry F. - 6/19/2000
Rep Crowley, Joseph - 4/28/1999 Rep Cummings, Elijah E. - 4/28/1999
Rep Davis, Danny K. - 6/23/1999 Rep DeFazio, Peter A. - 4/28/1999
Rep Delahunt, William D. - 4/28/1999 Rep DeLauro, Rosa L. - 4/28/1999
Rep Dingell, John D. - 4/28/1999 Rep Dixon, Julian C. - 4/28/1999
Rep Doyle, Michael F. - 4/28/1999 Rep Engel, Eliot L. - 4/28/1999
Rep Etheridge, Bob - 6/22/2000 Rep Evans, Lane - 4/28/1999
Rep Faleomavaega, Eni F. H. - 4/28/1999 Rep Fattah, Chaka - 5/25/1999
Rep Filner, Bob - 4/28/1999 Rep Ford, Harold, Jr. - 4/28/1999
Rep Frank, Barney - 4/28/1999 Rep Frost, Martin - 4/28/1999
Rep Gephardt, Richard A. - 4/28/1999 Rep Gilman, Benjamin A. - 7/26/2000
Rep Gonzalez, Charles A. - 4/28/1999 Rep Green, Gene - 4/28/1999
Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. - 4/28/1999 Rep Hastings, Alcee L. - 4/28/1999
Rep Hilliard, Earl F. - 4/28/1999 Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. - 4/28/1999
Rep Hoeffel, Joseph M. - 5/5/1999 Rep Inslee, Jay - 4/28/1999
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila - 4/28/1999 Rep Jefferson, William J. - 4/28/1999
Rep Johnson, Eddie Bernice - 4/28/1999 Rep Jones, Stephanie Tubbs - 6/20/2000
Rep Kaptur, Marcy - 4/28/1999 Rep Kennedy, Patrick J. - 4/28/1999
Rep Kildee, Dale E. - 4/28/1999 Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. - 4/28/1999
Rep Kleczka, Gerald D. - 4/28/1999 Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. - 4/28/1999
Rep LaFalce, John J. - 4/28/1999 Rep Lampson, Nick - 4/28/1999
Rep Lantos, Tom - 7/20/1999 Rep Lee, Barbara - 4/28/1999
Rep Lewis, John - 4/28/1999 Rep Lofgren, Zoe - 4/28/1999
Rep Lowey, Nita M. - 4/28/1999 Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. - 4/28/1999
Rep Maloney, James H. - 4/28/1999 Rep Markey, Edward J. - 4/28/1999
Rep Martinez, Matthew G. - 4/28/1999 Rep McGovern, James P. - 4/28/1999
Rep McKinney, Cynthia A. - 6/29/2000 Rep McNulty, Michael R. - 4/28/1999
Rep Meek, Carrie P. - 4/28/1999 Rep Meeks, Gregory W. - 7/19/2000
Rep Menendez, Robert - 4/28/1999 Rep Millender-McDonald, Juanita - 4/28/1999
Rep Miller, George - 4/28/1999 Rep Mink, Patsy T. - 4/28/1999
Rep Moakley, John Joseph - 4/28/1999 Rep Moore, Dennis - 4/28/1999
Rep Nadler, Jerrold - 4/28/1999 Rep Napolitano, Grace F. - 4/28/1999
Rep Neal, Richard E. - 4/28/1999 Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes - 4/28/1999
Rep Oberstar, James L. - 4/28/1999 Rep Obey, David R. - 5/12/1999
Rep Olver, John W. - 4/28/1999 Rep Pallone, Frank, Jr. - 4/28/1999
Rep Pelosi, Nancy - 4/28/1999 Rep Pomeroy, Earl - 4/28/1999
Rep Price, David E. - 4/28/1999 Rep Quinn, Jack - 10/7/1999
Rep Rahall, Nick J., II - 4/28/1999 Rep Rangel, Charles B. - 4/28/1999
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille - 4/28/1999 Rep Sabo, Martin Olav - 4/28/1999
Rep Sanders, Bernard - 6/23/2000 Rep Sandlin, Max - 4/28/1999
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. - 4/28/1999 Rep Shows, Ronnie - 4/28/1999
Rep Stabenow, Debbie - 4/28/1999 Rep Stark, Fortney Pete - 4/28/1999
Rep Strickland, Ted - 4/28/1999 Rep Thurman, Karen L. - 4/28/1999
Rep Tierney, John F. - 4/28/1999 Rep Towns, Edolphus - 4/4/2000
Rep Underwood, Robert A. - 4/28/1999 Rep Vento, Bruce F. - 4/28/1999
Rep Waters, Maxine - 4/28/1999 Rep Waxman, Henry A. - 4/28/1999
Rep Weiner, Anthony D. - 4/28/1999 Rep Wexler, Robert - 4/28/1999
Rep Wise, Robert E., Jr. - 4/28/1999 Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. - 4/28/1999
Rep Wynn, Albert Russell - 4/28/1999


SUMMARY AS OF:
4/28/1999--Introduced.

Retirement Accessibility, Security, and Portability Act of 1999 - Title I: Pension Access and Coverage - Subtitle A: Improved Access to Individual Retirement Savings - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to allow a tax credit for qualified start-up costs of eligible small employers in establishing a qualified pension plan or qualified employer payroll deduction system. Limits the amount of such credit to: (1) $1,000 for the first credit year; (2) $500 for each of the two taxable years immediately following the first credit year; and (3) zero for any other taxable year.

(Sec. 102) Provides for an exclusion from an employee's gross income of payroll deduction contributions to individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

(Sec. 103) Provides for a nonrefundable tax credit for contributions to individual retirement plans.

(Sec. 104) Allows the use, without penalty, of distributions from certain plans during periods of unemployment.

Subtitle B: Secure Money Annuity or Retirement (SMART) Trusts - Establishes a defined benefit plan option for small businesses, to be known as secure money annuity or retirement (SMART) trusts.

Subtitle C: Improved Fairness in Retirement Plan Benefits - Amends the IRC to require a specified minimum employer contribution to simple retirement accounts. Provides for an employer option to suspend contributions with 30-days' notice. Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) with respect to fiduciary duties in the case of such accounts.

(Sec. 122) Amends the IRC to set forth various nondiscrimination rules for qualified cash or deferred arrangements and matching contributions.

(Sec. 123) Increases from $75,000 to $80,000 per year specified compensation criteria for a highly compensated employee. Excludes specified categories of employees with respect to age, short length of service, and part-time service from the meaning of highly compensated employee.

(Sec. 124) Includes multiemployer plans, as well as governmental plans, under specified provisions of IRC for: (1) special limitation rules relating to compensation limits; and (2) exemptions for survivor and disability benefits.

(Sec. 125) Declares that compensation deferred under a mirror plan shall not be taken into account in applying certain limits (with respect to deferred compensation plans of State and local governments and tax-exempt organizations) to compensation deferred under any other deferred compensation plan.

(Sec. 126) Amends specified Federal law relating to Federal employees to allow immediate participation in the Thrift Savings Plan for Federal employees by eliminating certain waiting periods.

(Sec. 127) Amends IRC and ERISA to set a full funding limitation for multiemployer plans.

(Sec. 128) Eliminates IRC partial termination rules for multiemployer plans.

(Sec. 129) Replaces the 150 percent of current liability factor in the calculation of the full-funding limit with an incremental scale from 155 percent in 1998 to 170 percent in 2001, followed by zero in 2002 and succeeding years.

Title II: Security - Subtitle A: General Provisions - Amends ERISA to revise requirements for periodic pension benefits statements.

(Sec. 202) Applies an ERISA requirement for annual, detailed investment reports to certain IRC section 401(k) plans.

(Sec. 203) Directs the Secretary of Labor, in prescribing regulations for required information in such reports, to consider including specified types of information.

(Sec. 204) Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on: (1) the extent to which pension plans invest in collectibles; and (2) whether such investments present a risk to the pension security of the participants and beneficiaries of such plans.

(Sec. 205) Amends IRC to prohibit qualified employer plans from making loans through credit cards and other intermediaries.

(Sec. 206) Increases the amounts of multiemployer plan benefits guaranteed under ERISA.

(Sec. 207) Increases the maximum amount of the civil penalty which may be assessed administratively for certain prohibited transactions.

(Sec. 208) Amends ERISA with respect to substantial owner benefits to revise the phase-in of guarantee and the allocation of assets.

(Sec. 209) Directs the Secretary to report annually to the President and the Congress on plans from which residual assets were distributed to employers (reversion report).

Subtitle B: ERISA Enforcement - Amends ERISA enforcement provisions to change from mandatory to discretionary the Secretary's authority to impose certain civil penalties for breach of fiduciary responsibilities.

(Sec. 212) Revises reporting and enforcement requirements for employee benefit plans. Requires plan administrators and accountants to notify the Secretary: (1) of specified irregularities; and (2) upon termination of the accountant. Authorizes the Secretary to impose civil penalties for failure to make such notifications.

(Sec. 213) Sets forth additional ERISA requirements for qualified public accountants.

(Sec. 214) Directs the Inspector General of the Department of Labor to study, and report to Congress and the Secretary on, the need for regulatory standards and procedures to authorize the Secretary, in appropriate cases, to prohibit persons from serving as qualified accountants for purposes of specified annual reports.

Subtitle C: Increase in Excise Tax on Employer Reversions - Amends the IRC to increase the excise tax on reversions of qualified employee benefit plan assets to employers.

Title III: Portability - Amends ERISA and the IRC to provide for faster vesting of employer matching contributions.

(Sec. 302) Revises certain restrictions on distributions from IRC section 401(k) plans.

(Sec. 303) Amends ERISA and the IRC with respect to an accrued benefit not to be decreased by plan amendment to revise the treatment of transfers between defined contribution plans.

(Sec. 304) Amends ERISA rules requiring transfer of benefits of missing participants to direct the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to prescribe similar rules for multiemployer plans that terminate. Requires transfer of missing participants' plan benefits to the PBGC by certain plans not otherwise subject to ERISA enforcement provisions.

(Sec. 305) Allows rollovers from and to the IRC section 403(b) plans (annuities purchased for employees by a tax-exempt organization or public school).

(Sec. 306) Amends the IRC to set forth requirements relating to rollover contributions from deferred compensation plans of State and local governments.

(Sec. 307) Extends the IRC 60-day rollover period in the case of presidentially declared disasters and service in combat zones.

(Sec. 308) Excludes from gross income, for certain IRC purposes, amounts involved in a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer to a defined benefit governmental plan, if such transfer is for: (1) purchase of service credit under such plan; or (2) a specified type of repayment.

Title IV: Comprehensive Women's Pension Protection - Subtitle A: Pension Reform - Amends the IRC and ERISA to provide for the spouse's right to know specified distribution information relating to survivor annuities. Provides for the employee's right to know of the opportunity for elective contributions under IRC section 401(k) plans.

(Sec. 402) Directs the Secretary of Labor to contract with an independent organization to create a women's pension toll-free phone number and contact. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 403) Amends the Social Security Act to modify the government pension offset with respect to certain insurance benefits for wives, husbands, widows, widowers, and mothers and fathers.

(Sec. 404) Amends the IRC and ERISA to treat periods of family and medical leave, under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, as hours of service for purposes of pension participation and vesting.

(Sec. 405) Amends the IRC to: (1) disallow integration for simplified employee pensions; and (2) provide for eventual repeal of certain pension integration rules.

(Sec. 406) Amends the IRC and ERISA with respect to division of pension benefits upon divorce, at the former spouse's election, to deem any State divorce decree to be a domestic relations order specifying that half of the marital share of the participant's accrued benefit is to be provided to such former spouse.

(Sec. 407) Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 (RRA) to entitle divorced spouses to railroad retirement annuities independent of the employee's actual entitlement.

Subtitle B: Protection of Rights of Former Spouses to Pension Benefits Under Certain Government and Government-Sponsored Retirement Programs - Amends RRA to extend Tier II railroad retirement benefits to surviving former spouses pursuant to divorce agreements.

(Sec. 412) Amends Federal civil service law with respect to survivor annuities for widows, widowers, and former spouses of Federal employees who die before attaining the age for deferred annuity under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).

(Sec. 413) Amends Federal civil service law with respect to payment of lump-sum benefits to former spouses of Federal employees under CSRS and the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS).

Subtitle C: Modifications of Joint and Survivor Annuity Requirements - Modifies ERISA and IRC requirements for joint and survivor annuities to provide for an alternative joint and two-thirds survivor annuity payable while both the participant and the spouse are alive.

(Sec. 422) Requires spousal consent for distributions from the IRC section 401(k) plans.

Title V: Date for Adoption of Plan Amendments - Sets forth dates for adoption of plan amendments.