I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5483 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 25, 2006 

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska (for himself, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. LATOURETTE, and 

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

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. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Railroad Retirement 

5 Disability Earnings Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REFORM OF DISABILITY EARNINGS LIMITATION 

2 PROVISIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2(e)(4) of the Railroad 

4 Retirement Act of 1974 is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘$400 in earnings’’ in the first 

6 sentence and inserting ‘‘the monthly allowable earn7 ings as defined in the section’’; 

8 (2) by striking ‘‘$4,800’’ in the fourth sentence 

9 and inserting ‘‘the amount of earnings computed by 

10 totaling the monthly allowable earnings as deter11 mined under this section for each month in the 

12 year’’; and 

13 (3) by striking the fifth sentence and inserting 

14 ‘‘If the total amount of such individual’s earnings 

15 during such year (exclusive of earnings for services 

16 as described in subdivision (3) and after deduction 

17 of disability related work expenses) is in excess of 

18 the annual allowable earnings amount, the number 

19 of months in such year with respect to which an an20 nuity is not payable by reason of the first and third 

21 sentences shall not exceed the number of months de22 rived by dividing the amount by which such annual 

23 earnings exceed the annual allowable earnings 

24 amount by the monthly allowable earning amount 

25 determined under this section. If the computation 

26 under the preceding sentence results in a remainder 


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1 greater than or equal to one-half, the number of 

2 months for which an annuity is not payable as deter3 mined under the preceding sentence shall be in4 creased by one. The annual allowable earnings 

5 amount shall be computed by totaling the amount of 

6 monthly allowable earnings as determined under the 

7 first sentence of this subdivision for each month in 

8 the calender year. If the amount of the individual’s 

9 annuity has changed during the calendar year, any 

10 payment of annuities which become payable solely by 

11 reason of the limitations in the preceding three sen12 tences shall be made first with respect to the month 

13 or months for which the annuity is larger. For pur14 poses of this subdivision, ‘the monthly allowable 

15 earnings’ shall be $700, except that for each year 

16 after 2007, ‘the monthly allowable earnings’ amount 

17 shall be the larger of the amount for the previous 

18 year or the amount calculated by multiplying $700 

19 by the ratio of the national average wage index for 

20 the year 2 calender years before the year for which 

21 the amount is being calculated to the national aver22 age wage index for the year 2005. The amount so 

23 computed will be rounded to the next higher multiple 

24 of $10 where such amount is a multiple of $5 but 


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1 not of $10 and to the nearest multiple of $10 in any 

2 other case.’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this section take effect January 1, 2007. 

Æ 


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