Page 459 TITLE 29—LABOR § 1147

tance to the future well-being of American workers

and their families;

‘‘(2) to provide for a periodic, bipartisan national

retirement savings summit in conjunction with the

White House to elevate the issue of savings to national prominence; and

‘‘(3) to initiate the development of a broad-based,

public education program to encourage and enhance

individual commitment to a personal retirement savings strategy.’’

§ 1147. National Summit on Retirement Savings

(a) Authority to call Summit

Not later than July 15, 1998, the President

shall convene a National Summit on Retirement

Income Savings at the White House, to be cohosted by the President and the Speaker and the

Minority Leader of the House of Representatives

and the Majority Leader and Minority Leader of

the Senate. Such a National Summit shall be

convened thereafter in 2001 and 2005 on or after

September 1 of each year involved. Such a National Summit shall—

(1) advance the public’s knowledge and understanding of retirement savings and its critical importance to the future well-being of

American workers and their families;

(2) facilitate the development of a broadbased, public education program to encourage

and enhance individual commitment to a personal retirement savings strategy;

(3) develop recommendations for additional

research, reforms, and actions in the field of

private pensions and individual retirement

savings; and

(4) disseminate the report of, and information obtained by, the National Summit and exhibit materials and works of the National

Summit.

(b) Planning and direction

The National Summit shall be planned and

conducted under the direction of the Secretary,

in consultation with, and with the assistance of,

the heads of such other Federal departments and

agencies as the President may designate. Such

assistance may include the assignment of personnel. The Secretary shall, in planning and

conducting the National Summit, consult with

the congressional leaders specified in subsection

(e)(2) of this section. The Secretary shall also, in

carrying out the Secretary’s duties under this

subsection, consult and coordinate with at least

one organization made up of private sector businesses and associations partnered with Government entities to promote long-term financial security in retirement through savings.

(c) Purpose of National Summit

The purpose of the National Summit shall be—

(1) to increase the public awareness of the

value of personal savings for retirement;

(2) to advance the public’s knowledge and

understanding of retirement savings and its

critical importance to the future well-being of

American workers and their families;

(3) to facilitate the development of a broadbased, public education program to encourage

and enhance individual commitment to a personal retirement savings strategy;

(4) to identify the problems workers have in

setting aside adequate savings for retirement;

(5) to identify the barriers which employers,

especially small employers, face in assisting

their workers in accumulating retirement savings;

(6) to examine the impact and effectiveness

of individual employers to promote personal

savings for retirement among their workers

and to promote participation in company savings options;

(7) to examine the impact and effectiveness

of government programs at the Federal, State,

and local levels to educate the public about,

and to encourage, retirement income savings;

(8) to develop such specific and comprehensive recommendations for the legislative and

executive branches of the Government and for

private sector action as may be appropriate

for promoting private pensions and individual

retirement savings; and

(9) to develop recommendations for the coordination of Federal, State, and local retirement income savings initiatives among the

Federal, State, and local levels of government

and for the coordination of such initiatives.

(d) Scope of National Summit

The scope of the National Summit shall consist of issues relating to individual and employer-based retirement savings and shall not

include issues relating to the old-age, survivors,

and disability insurance program under title II

of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.].

(e) National Summit participants

(1) In general

To carry out the purposes of the National

Summit, the National Summit shall bring together—

(A) professionals and other individuals

working in the fields of employee benefits

and retirement savings;

(B) Members of Congress and officials in

the executive branch;

(C) representatives of State and local governments;

(D) representatives of private sector institutions, including individual employers, concerned about promoting the issue of retirement savings and facilitating savings among

American workers; and

(E) representatives of the general public.

(2) Statutorily required participation

The participants in the National Summit

shall include the following individuals or their

designees:

(A) the Speaker and the Minority Leader

of the House of Representatives;

(B) the Majority Leader and the Minority

Leader of the Senate;

(C) the Chairman and ranking Member of

the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives;

(D) the Chairman and ranking Member of

the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate;

(E) the Chairman and ranking Member of

the Special Committee on Aging of the Senate;

(F) the Chairman and ranking Member of

the Subcommittees on Labor, Health and

Human Services, and Education of the Senate and House of Representatives; and
§ 1147 TITLE 29—LABOR Page 460

1So in original. A closing parenthesis probably should precede

the semicolon.

(G) the parties referred to in subsection (b)

of this section.

(3) Additional participants

(A) In general

There shall be not more than 200 additional participants. Of such additional participants—

(i) one-half shall be appointed by the

President, in consultation with the elected

leaders of the President’s party in Congress (either the Speaker of the House of

Representatives or the Minority Leader of

the House of Representatives, and either

the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader of the Senate; 1 and

(ii) one-half shall be appointed by the

elected leaders of Congress of the party to

which the President does not belong (onehalf of that allotment to be appointed by

either the Speaker of the House of Representatives or the Minority Leader of the

House of Representatives, and one-half of

that allotment to be appointed by either

the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader of the Senate).

(B) Appointment requirements

The additional participants described in

subparagraph (A) shall be—

(i) appointed not later than January 31,

1998;

(ii) selected without regard to political

affiliation or past partisan activity; and

(iii) representative of the diversity of

thought in the fields of employee benefits

and retirement income savings.

(4) Presiding officers

The National Summit shall be presided over

equally by representatives of the executive

and legislative branches.

(f) National Summit administration

(1) Administration

In administering this section, the Secretary

shall—

(A) request the cooperation and assistance

of such other Federal departments and agencies and other parties referred to in subsection (b) of this section as may be appropriate in the carrying out of this section;

(B) furnish all reasonable assistance to

State agencies, area agencies, and other appropriate organizations to enable them to

organize and conduct conferences in conjunction with the National Summit;

(C) make available for public comment a

proposed agenda for the National Summit

that reflects to the greatest extent possible

the purposes for the National Summit set

out in this section;

(D) prepare and make available background materials for the use of participants

in the National Summit that the Secretary

considers necessary; and

(E) appoint and fix the pay of such additional personnel as may be necessary to

carry out the provisions of this section without regard to provisions of title 5 governing

appointments in the competitive service,

and without regard to chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title relating to classification and General Schedule

pay rates.

(2) Duties

The Secretary shall, in carrying out the responsibilities and functions of the Secretary

under this section, and as part of the National

Summit, ensure that—

(A) the National Summit shall be conducted in a manner that ensures broad participation of Federal, State, and local agencies and private organizations, professionals,

and others involved in retirement income

savings and provides a strong basis for assistance to be provided under paragraph

(1)(B);

(B) the agenda prepared under paragraph

(1)(C) for the National Summit is published

in the Federal Register; and

(C) the personnel appointed under paragraph (1)(E) shall be fairly balanced in terms

of points of views represented and shall be

appointed without regard to political affiliation or previous partisan activities.

(3) Nonapplication of FACA

The provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to

the National Summit.

(g) Report

The Secretary shall prepare a report describing the activities of the National Summit and

shall submit the report to the President, the

Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of

Representatives, the Majority and Minority

Leaders of the Senate, and the chief executive

officers of the States not later than 90 days after

the date on which the National Summit is adjourned.

(h) ‘‘State’’ defined

For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘State’’

means a State, the District of Columbia, the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam,

the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any

other territory or possession of the United

States.

(i) Authorization of appropriations

(1) In general

There is authorized to be appropriated for

fiscal years beginning on or after October 1,

1997, such sums as are necessary to carry out

this section.

(2) Authorization to accept private contributions

In order to facilitate the National Summit

as a public-private partnership, the Secretary

may accept private contributions, in the form

of money, supplies, or services, to defray the

costs of the National Summit.

(j) Financial obligation for fiscal year 1998

The financial obligation for the Department of

Labor for fiscal year 1998 shall not exceed the

lesser of—
Page 461 TITLE 29—LABOR § 1162

(1) one-half of the costs of the National Summit; or

(2) $250,000.

The private sector organization described in

subsection (b) of this section and contracted

with by the Secretary shall be obligated for the

balance of the cost of the National Summit.

(k) Contracts

The Secretary may enter into contracts to

carry out the Secretary’s responsibilities under

this section. The Secretary shall enter into a

contract on a sole-source basis to ensure the

timely completion of the National Summit in

fiscal year 1998.

(Pub. L. 93–406, title I, §517, as added Pub. L.

105–92, §4(a), Nov. 19, 1997, 111 Stat. 2141.)

REFERENCES IN TEXT

The Social Security Act, referred to in subsec. (d), is

act Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, 49 Stat. 620, as amended. Title

II of the Act is classified generally to subchapter II

(§401 et seq.) of chapter 7 of Title 42, The Public Health

and Welfare. For complete classification of this Act to

the Code, see section 1305 of Title 42 and Tables.

The provisions of title 5 governing appointments in

the competitive service, referred to in subsec. (f)(1)(E),

are classified generally to section 3301 et seq. of Title

5, Government Organization and Employees.

The Federal Advisory Committee Act, referred to in

subsec. (f)(3), is Pub. L. 92–463, Oct. 6, 1972, 86 Stat. 770,

as amended, which is set out in the Appendix to Title

5.

PART 6—CONTINUATION COVERAGE AND ADDITIONAL STANDARDS FOR GROUP HEALTH PLANS

PART REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS

This part is referred to in section 1191b of this title;

title 26 section 9805; title 42 sections 300gg–91, 1396a,

1396e.

§ 1161. Plans must provide continuation coverage

to certain individuals

(a) In general

The plan sponsor of each group health plan

shall provide, in accordance with this part, that

each qualified beneficiary who would lose coverage under the plan as a result of a qualifying

event is entitled, under the plan, to elect, within

the election period, continuation coverage under

the plan.

(b) Exception for certain plans

Subsection (a) of this section shall not apply

to any group health plan for any calendar year

if all employers maintaining such plan normally

employed fewer than 20 employees on a typical

business day during the preceding calendar year.

(Pub. L. 93–406, title I, §601, as added Pub. L.

99–272, title X, §10002(a), Apr. 7, 1986, 100 Stat.

227; amended Pub. L. 101–239, title VII,

§§7862(c)(1)(B), 7891(a)(1), Dec. 19, 1989, 103 Stat.

2432, 2445.)

AMENDMENTS

1989—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 101–239 struck out at end

‘‘Under regulations, rules similar to the rules of subsections (a) and (b) of section 52 of title 26 (relating to

employers under common control) shall apply for purposes of this subsection.’’

Pub. L. 101–239, §7891(a)(1), substituted ‘‘Internal Revenue Code of 1986’’ for ‘‘Internal Revenue Code of 1954’’,

which for purposes of codification was translated as

‘‘title 26’’ thus requiring no change in text.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1989 AMENDMENT

Amendment by section 7862(c)(1)(B) of Pub. L. 101–239

applicable to years beginning after Dec. 31, 1986, see

section 7862(c)(1)(C) of Pub. L. 101–239, set out as a note

under section 106 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.

Amendment by section 7891(a)(1) of Pub. L. 101–239 effective, except as otherwise provided, as if included in

the provision of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub. L.

99–514, to which such amendment relates, see section

7891(f) of Pub. L. 101–239, set out as a note under section

1002 of this title.

EFFECTIVE DATE

Section 10002(d) of Pub. L. 99–272 provided that:

‘‘(1) GENERAL RULE.—The amendments made by this

section [enacting this part and amending section 1132 of

this title] shall apply to plan years beginning on or

after July 1, 1986.

‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.—In the case of a group health plan maintained

pursuant to one or more collective bargaining agreements between employee representatives and one or

more employers ratified before the date of the enactment of this Act [Apr. 7, 1986], the amendments made

by this section shall not apply to plan years beginning

before the later of—

‘‘(A) the date on which the last of the collective

bargaining agreements relating to the plan terminates (determined without regard to any extension

thereof agreed to after the date of the enactment of

this Act), or

‘‘(B) January 1, 1987.

For purposes of subparagraph (A), any plan amendment

made pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement relating to the plan which amends the plan solely to conform to any requirement added by this section shall

not be treated as a termination of such collective bargaining agreement.’’

SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS

This section is referred to in section 1162 of this title.

§ 1162. Continuation coverage

For purposes of section 1161 of this title, the

term ‘‘continuation coverage’’ means coverage

under the plan which meets the following requirements:

(1) Type of benefit coverage

The coverage must consist of coverage

which, as of the time the coverage is being

provided, is identical to the coverage provided

under the plan to similarly situated beneficiaries under the plan with respect to whom

a qualifying event has not occurred. If coverage is modified under the plan for any group

of similarly situated beneficiaries, such coverage shall also be modified in the same manner for all individuals who are qualified beneficiaries under the plan pursuant to this part

in connection with such group.

(2) Period of coverage

The coverage must extend for at least the

period beginning on the date of the qualifying

event and ending not earlier than the earliest

of the following:

(A) Maximum required period

(i) General rule for terminations and reduced hours

In the case of a qualifying event described in section 1163(2) of this title, ex-