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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5483 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.5483

                       One Hundred Ninth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America

                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
             the third day of January, two thousand and six

                                 An Act

 
    To increase the disability earning limitation under the Railroad 
Retirement Act and to index the amount of allowable earnings consistent 
 with increases in the substantial gainful activity dollar amount under 
                        the Social Security Act.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Railroad Retirement Disability 
Earnings Act''.
SEC. 2. REFORM OF DISABILITY EARNINGS LIMITATION PROVISIONS.
    (a) In General.--Section 2(e)(4) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 
1974 is amended--
        (1) by striking ``$400 in earnings'' in the first sentence and 
    inserting ``the monthly allowable earnings as defined in the 
    section'';
        (2) by striking ``$4,800'' in the fourth sentence and inserting 
    ``the amount of earnings computed by totaling the monthly allowable 
    earnings as determined under this section for each month in the 
    year''; and
        (3) by striking the fifth sentence and inserting ``If the total 
    amount of such individual's earnings during such year (exclusive of 
    earnings for services as described in subdivision (3) and after 
    deduction of disability related work expenses) is in excess of the 
    annual allowable earnings amount, the number of months in such year 
    with respect to which an annuity is not payable by reason of the 
    first and third sentences shall not exceed the number of months 
    derived by dividing the amount by which such annual earnings exceed 
    the annual allowable earnings amount by the monthly allowable 
    earning amount determined under this section. If the computation 
    under the preceding sentence results in a remainder greater than or 
    equal to one-half, the number of months for which an annuity is not 
    payable as determined under the preceding sentence shall be 
    increased by one. The annual allowable earnings amount shall be 
    computed by totaling the amount of monthly allowable earnings as 
    determined under the first sentence of this subdivision for each 
    month in the calender year. If the amount of the individual's 
    annuity has changed during the calendar year, any payment of 
    annuities which become payable solely by reason of the limitations 
    in the preceding three sentences shall be made first with respect 
    to the month or months for which the annuity is larger. For 
    purposes of this subdivision, `the monthly allowable earnings' 
    shall be $700, except that for each year after 2007, `the monthly 
    allowable earnings' amount shall be the larger of the amount for 
    the previous year or the amount calculated by multiplying $700 by 
    the ratio of the national average wage index for the year 2 
    calender years before the year for which the amount is being 
    calculated to the national average wage index for the year 2005. 
    The amount so computed will be rounded to the next higher multiple 
    of $10 where such amount is a multiple of $5 but not of $10 and to 
    the nearest multiple of $10 in any other case.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section take 
effect January 1, 2007.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.
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