59620 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 196 / Wednesday, October 12, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 

1ERISA section 518 and Code section 7508A 

generally provide that, in the case of an employee 

benefit plan, sponsor, administrator, participant, 

beneficiary, or other person with respect to such a 

plan, affected by a Presidentially declared disaster, 

notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 

Secretaries of Labor and the Treasury may prescribe 

(by notice or otherwise) a period of up to one year 

that may be disregarded in determining the date by 

which any action is required or permitted to be 

completed. Section 518 of ERISA and section 

7508A of the Code further provide that no plan 

shall be treated as failing to be operated in 

accordance with the terms of the plan solely as a 

result of complying with the postponement of a 

deadline under those sections. 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Employee Benefits Security 

Administration 

29 CFR Parts 2560 and 2590 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Internal Revenue Service 

26 CFR Part 54 

Additional Extension of Time Frames 

for Employee Benefit Plans Affected by 

Hurricane Katrina 

AGENCIES: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor; 

Internal Revenue Service, Department of 

the Treasury. 

ACTION: Extension of time frames. 

SUMMARY: This document further 

extends certain time frames under the 

Employee Retirement Income Security 

Act and Internal Revenue Code for 

employee benefit plans, participants, 

and beneficiaries affected by Hurricane 

Katrina. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 12, 2005. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Amy Turner, Employee Benefits 

Security Administration, Department of 

Labor, at 202–693–8335 for HIPAA 

issues; Fred Wong, Employee Benefits 

Security Administration, Department of 

Labor, at 202–693–8523 for COBRA 

notice and claims procedure issues; or 

Russ Weinheimer, Internal Revenue 

Service, Department of the Treasury, at 

202–622–6080 for HIPAA, COBRA 

coverage, and COBRA premium issues. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

On September 21, 2005, the Employee 

Benefits Security Administration and 

the Internal Revenue Service published 

a joint extension of time frames to help 

participants, beneficiaries, qualified 

beneficiaries, and claimants directly 

affected by Hurricane Katrina who 

might encounter problems in exercising 

their health coverage portability or 

continuation coverage rights, or in filing 

or perfecting a benefit claim. See 70 FR 

55500. (‘‘Original Hurricane Katrina 

Extension’’). This relief was provided 

under authority in section 518 of the 

Employee Retirement Income Security 

Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1148, 

and section 7508A of the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986 (Code), 26 U.S.C. 

7508A.1 Shortly after the notice was 

published, the Katrina Emergency Tax 

Relief Act of 2005 (KETRA) was 

enacted. Pub. L. 109–73. Section 403 of 

KETRA provides that any relief 

provided by the Secretary of the 

Treasury under section 7508A of the 

Code shall be for a period ending not 

earlier than February 28, 2006. 

Accordingly, this document extends the 

end of the tolling period of the ERISA 

and Code provisions under the Original 

Hurricane Katrina Extension through 

February 28, 2006. 

The Agencies believe that such relief 

is immediately needed to preserve and 

protect the benefits of participants and 

beneficiaries in affected plans. 

Accordingly, the Agencies have 

determined, pursuant to section 553 of 

the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 

U.S.C. 553 (b) and (d), that there is good 

cause for making the relief provided by 

this notice effective immediately upon 

publication and that notice and public 

participation may result in undue delay 

and, therefore, be contrary to public 

interest. 

The relief provided by this document 

supplements other Hurricane Katrina 

disaster relief, which can be accessed on 

the Internet at http://www.dol.gov and 

http://www.irs.gov. Information on the 

scope of the geographic areas eligible for 

relief is available at http:// 

www.fema.gov/news/disasters.fema. 

II. Relief 

The tolling periods described in 

paragraphs III.A and III.B. of the 

Original Hurricane Katrina Extension at 

70 FR 55500 are changed for 

participants, beneficiaries, qualified 

beneficiaries, or claimants directly 

affected by Hurricane Katrina (as 

defined in paragraph III.C.(1) of the 

Original Hurricane Katrina Extension) 

and group health plans directly affected 

by Hurricane Katrina (as defined in 

paragraph III.C.(3) of the Original 

Hurricane Katrina Extension). The 

period group health plans, disability 

and other welfare plans, pension plans, 

and health insurance issuers subject to 

Part 7 of ERISA must disregard is from 

August 29, 2005 through February 28, 

2006. 

Signed at Washington, DC, this 4th day of 

October, 2005. 

Ann Combs, 

Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits 

Security Administration, Department of 

Labor. 

Signed this 7th day of October, 2005. 

Mark E. Matthews, 

Deputy Commissioner for Services and 

Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, 

Department of the Treasury. 

[FR Doc. 05–20547 Filed 10–7–05; 2:10 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4510–29–P, 4830–01–P