I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2321 

To amend titles I and IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security 

Act of 1974 to improve disclosure of the funding status of pension plans. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 12, 2005 

Mr. DOGGETT (for himself, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BACA, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. BISHOP of New 

York, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Ms. CARSON, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. 

DELAURO, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. 

GRIJALVA, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. 

HONDA, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Ms. 

LEE, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. MCDERMOTT, 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. NADLER, Mr. OWENS, Ms. ROYBALALLARD, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. STARK, Mr. 

STRICKLAND, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. TOWNS, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. VAN

HOLLEN, Ms. WATSON, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. WOOLSEY, and Mr. WU) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend titles I and IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to improve disclosure of the 

funding status of pension plans. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
2 

•HR 2321 IH 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pension Security Dis3 closure Act of 2005’’. 

4 SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF CER5 TAIN INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE PRO6 VIDED TO THE PBGC REGARDING THE AS7 SETS AND LIABILITIES OF CERTAIN UNDER8 FUNDED SINGLE-EMPLOYER PLANS. 

9 (a) ELECTRONIC FORMAT.—Section 4010(a) of the 

10 Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 

11 U.S.C. 1310(a)) is amended by adding, after and below 

12 paragraph (2), the following: 

13 ‘‘Material provided to the corporation pursuant to this sec14 tion shall be in an electronic format which accommodates 

15 display on the Internet, in accordance with regulations of 

16 the corporation.’’. 

17 (b) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—Section 4010(c) of such 

18 Act (29 U.S.C. 1310(c)) is amended to read as follows: 

19 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION.— 

20 ‘‘(1) PUBLIC INFORMATION.—Except as pro21 vided in paragraph (4), the contents of records, doc22 uments, and other information filed with the cor23 poration pursuant to subsection (a) shall be public 

24 information and the corporation shall make any such 

25 information available for inspection in the principal 

26 office of the corporation and shall, upon written re-
3 

•HR 2321 IH 

1 quest of any participant or beneficiary, furnish to 

2 such participant or beneficiary a written copy of any 

3 such information. The corporation may by regulation 

4 provide for a reasonable charge to cover the cost of 

5 furnishing any such copy of such information. 

6 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE ON THE INTERNET AND

7 OTHER MEDIA.—The corporation shall provide by 

8 regulation for timely display of the contents of 

9 records, documents, and other information filed with 

10 the corporation in connection with the plan pursuant 

11 to subsection (a) on a website maintained by the cor12 poration on the Internet and other appropriate 

13 media. 

14 ‘‘(3) DIRECT PROVISION OF INFORMATION TO

15 PARTICIPANTS AND BENEFICIARIES.—Within 30 

16 days after material is provided to the corporation 

17 pursuant to subsection (a) with respect to a plan, in 

18 accordance with regulations which shall be pre19 scribed by the corporation, the plan administrator 

20 shall provide a written summary of such material to 

21 each participant and beneficiary under the plan and 

22 shall include with such summary notification that 

23 such material is available on the website referred to 

24 in paragraph (2). 
4 

•HR 2321 IH 

1 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTION FOR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMA2 TION.—Paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) shall not apply 

3 with respect to information described in subsection 

4 (a) which the corporation has identified by regula5 tion as confidential information.’’. 

6 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

7 this section shall apply with respect to information pro8 vided to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation pursu9 ant to section 4010 of the Employee Retirement Income 

10 Security Act of 1974 with respect to reporting periods 

11 ending on or after December 31, 2005. 

12 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR ANNUAL RE13 PORTS. 

14 (a) FILING AFTER 275 DAYS AFTER PLAN YEAR

15 ONLY IN CASES OF HARDSHIP.—Section 104(a)(1) of the 

16 Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 

17 U.S.C. 1024(a)(1)) is amended by inserting after the first 

18 sentence the following new sentence: ‘‘In the case of a pen19 sion plan, the Secretary may extend the deadline for filing 

20 the annual report for any plan year past 275 days after 

21 the close of the plan year only on a case by case basis 

22 and only in cases of hardship, in accordance with regula23 tions which shall be prescribed by the Secretary.’’. 
5 

•HR 2321 IH 

1 (b) ACTUARIAL VALUATIONS AS OF THE END OF THE

2 PLAN YEAR.—Section 103 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 1023) 

3 is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a)(4)(A), by inserting after 

5 the first sentence the following new sentence: ‘‘Actu6 arial valuations included in the actuarial statement 

7 applicable to the plan year for which the annual re8 port is filed shall be determined as of the last date 

9 of such plan year.’’; and 

10 (2) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘years,’’ 

11 and all that follows and inserting ‘‘years.’’. 

12 (c) INTERNET DISPLAY OF INFORMATION.—Section 

13 104(b) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 1024(b)) is amended by 

14 adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(2) Identification and basic plan information and ac16 tuarial information included in the annual report for any 

17 plan year shall be filed with the Secretary in an electronic 

18 format which accommodates display on the Internet, in ac19 cordance with regulations which shall be prescribed by the 

20 Secretary. The Secretary shall provide for display of such 

21 information included in the annual report, within 90 days 

22 after the date of the filing of the annual report, on a 

23 website maintained by the Secretary on the Internet and 

24 other appropriate media. Such information shall also be 

25 displayed on any website maintained by the plan sponsor 
6 

•HR 2321 IH 

1 (or by the plan administrator on behalf of the plan spon2 sor) on the Internet, in accordance with regulations which 

3 shall be prescribed by the Secretary.’’. 

4 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

5 this section shall apply with respect to annual reports filed 

6 in connecton with plan years ending with or after Decem7 ber 31, 2005. 

8 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS FOR SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORTS. 

9 (a) ISSUANCE OF SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORT WITH10 IN 15 DAYS AFTER FILING OF ANNUAL REPORT.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 104(b)(3) of the 

12 Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

13 (29 U.S.C. 1024(b)(3)) is amended— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘Within 210 days after the 

15 close of the fiscal year of the plan,’’ and insert16 ing ‘‘Within 15 days after the date of the filing 

17 of the annual report for a plan year of the 

18 plan,’’; and 

19 (B) by striking ‘‘such fiscal year’’ and in20 serting ‘‘such plan year’’. 

21 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

22 by this subsection shall apply with respect to annual 

23 reports filed after December 31, 2005. 
7 

•HR 2321 IH 

1 (b) DISCLOSURE OF PLAN ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

2 AND NOTIFICATION OF AVAILABILITY OF ANNUAL RE3 PORT ON THE INTERNET.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 104(b)(3) of such 

5 Act (as amended by subsection (a)) is amended fur6 ther— 

7 (A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(3)’’; and 

8 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(B) The material provided pursuant to subpara10 graph (A) to summarize the latest annual report shall be 

11 written in a manner calculated to be understood by the 

12 average plan participant and shall set forth the following 

13 information: 

14 ‘‘(i) the total assets and liabilities of the plan 

15 for the plan year for which the latest annual report 

16 was filed and for each of the 2 preceding plan years, 

17 as reported in the annual report for each such plan 

18 year under this section; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) notification that identification and basic 

20 plan information and actuarial information con21 tained in the latest annual report are available on 

22 the website of the Department of Labor and a 

23 website maintained by the plan sponsor (or by the 

24 plan administrator on behalf of the plan sponsor).’’. 
8 

•HR 2321 IH 

1 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

2 by this subsection shall apply with respect to sum3 mary annual reports issued after 1 year after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act. 

5 (c) SIMPLIFIED REPORTING RULES FOR SMALL

6 PLANS.—Section 104(b)(3) of such Act (as amended by 

7 subsections (a) and (b)) is amended further by adding at 

8 the end the following new subparagraph: 

9 ‘‘(C) The Secretary may by regulation prescribe sim10 plified reporting requirements, with respect to material re11 quired to be furnished under this paragraph, for any pen12 sion plan which covers less than 100 participants.’’. 

Æ