I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 323

To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

to provide for joint trusteeship of single-employer pension plans. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 8, 2003

Mr. VISCLOSKY (for himself, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. WYNN, Mr. OBERSTAR, and Mr. 

STUPAK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide for joint trusteeship of singleemployer pension plans.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO TRUSTEESHIP 

4 OF SINGLE-EMPLOYER PLANS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 403(a) of the Employee 

6 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

7 1103(a)) is amended—

8 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 

9 subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively; 
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1 (2) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’; and 

2 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

3 paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(2)(A) The assets of a pension plan which is a sin5 gle-employer plan shall be held in trust by a joint board 

6 of trustees, which shall consist of two or more trustees 

7 representing on an equal basis the interests of the em8 ployer or employers maintaining the plan and the interests 

9 of the participants and their beneficiaries. 

10 ‘‘(B)(i) Except as provided in clause (ii), in any case 

11 in which the plan is maintained pursuant to one or more 

12 collective bargaining agreements between one or more em13 ployee organizations and one or more employers, the trust14 ees representing the interests of the participants and their 

15 beneficiaries pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be des16 ignated by such employee organizations. 

17 ‘‘(ii) Clause (i) shall not apply with respect to a plan 

18 described in such clause if the employee organization (or 

19 all employee organizations, if more than one) referred to 

20 in such clause file with the Secretary, in such form and 

21 manner as shall be prescribed in regulations of the Sec22 retary, a written waiver of their rights under clause (i). 

23 ‘‘(iii) In any case in which clause (i) does not apply 

24 with respect to a pension plan which is a single-employer 

25 plan because the plan is not described in clause (i) or be-
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1 cause of a waiver filed pursuant to clause (ii), the trustee 

2 or trustees representing the interests of the participants 

3 and their beneficiaries shall consist of one or more partici4 pants under the plan elected to serve as such in accord5 ance with this clause. The Secretary shall provide by regu6 lation for a secret ballot of the participants under the plan 

7 for purposes of such election, and for certification of the 

8 results thereof to the participants (and any employee orga9 nization referred to in clause (ii)) and to the employer.’’. 

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 403(a)(1) 

11 of such Act (as redesignated under subsection (a)) is 

12 amended—

13 (1) by striking ‘‘Such trustee or trustees’’ and 

14 inserting ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph (2), such 

15 trustee or trustees’’; 

16 (2) by striking ‘‘fiduciary, and upon accept17 ance’’ and inserting ‘‘fiduciary. Upon acceptance’’; 

18 and 

19 (3) in subparagraph (A) (as so redesignated), 

20 by striking ‘‘the plan’’ the first place it appears and 

21 inserting ‘‘in the case of a plan other than a pension 

22 plan which is a single-employer plan, the plan’’. 

23 SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

24 The amendments made by section 1 shall apply with 

25 respect to plan years beginning after 180 days after the 
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1 date of the enactment of this Act. The Secretary of Labor 

2 shall prescribe the initial regulations necessary to carry 

3 out the provisions of such amendments not later than 90 

4 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

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