II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3358 

To provide special rules for the use of retirement funds for relief relating 

to severe flooding in the Mississippi Delta. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 

Mr. CASSIDY (for himself and Mr. VITTER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To provide special rules for the use of retirement funds 

for relief relating to severe flooding in the Mississippi Delta. 

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 ‘‘Flood Emergency Tax 

5 Relief Act of 2016 (FLETRA)’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SPECIAL RULES FOR USE OF RETIREMENT FUNDS 

7 WITH RESPECT TO MISSISSIPPI DELTA AREAS 

8 DAMAGED BY 2016 FLOODING. 

9 (a) TAX-FAVORED WITHDRAWALS FROM RETIRE10 MENT PLANS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 72(t) of the Internal 

2 Revenue Code of 1986 shall not apply to any quali3 fied Mississippi River Delta flooding distribution. 

4 (2) AGGREGATE DOLLAR LIMITATION.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 

6 subsection, the aggregate amount of distribu7 tions received by an individual which may be 

8 treated as qualified Mississippi River Delta 

9 flooding distributions for any taxable year shall 

10 not exceed the excess (if any) of— 

11 (i) $100,000, over 

12 (ii) the aggregate amounts treated as 

13 qualified Mississippi River Delta flooding 

14 distributions received by such individual 

15 for all prior taxable years. 

16 (B) TREATMENT OF PLAN DISTRIBU17 TIONS.—If a distribution to an individual would 

18 (without regard to subparagraph (A)) be a 

19 qualified Mississippi River Delta flooding dis20 tribution, a plan shall not be treated as vio21 lating any requirement of this title merely be22 cause the plan treats such distribution as a 

23 qualified Mississippi River Delta flooding dis24 tribution, unless the aggregate amount of such 

25 distributions from all plans maintained by the 


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1 employer (and any member of any controlled 

2 group which includes the employer) to such in3 dividual exceeds $100,000. 

4 (C) CONTROLLED GROUP.—For purposes 

5 of subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘controlled 

6 group’’ means any group treated as a single 

7 employer under subsection (b), (c), (m), or (o) 

8 of section 414 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

9 1986. 

10 (3) AMOUNT DISTRIBUTED MAY BE REPAID.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any individual who re12 ceives a qualified Mississippi River Delta flood13 ing distribution may, at any time during the 3- 

14 year period beginning on the day after the date 

15 on which such distribution was received, make 

16 one or more contributions in an aggregate 

17 amount not to exceed the amount of such dis18 tribution to an eligible retirement plan of which 

19 such individual is a beneficiary and to which a 

20 rollover contribution of such distribution could 

21 be made under section 402(c), 403(a)(4), 

22 403(b)(8), 408(d)(3), or 457(e)(16) of the In23 ternal Revenue Code of 1986, as the case may 

24 be. 


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1 (B) TREATMENT OF REPAYMENTS OF DIS2 TRIBUTIONS FROM ELIGIBLE RETIREMENT

3 PLANS OTHER THAN IRAS.—For purposes of 

4 this title, if a contribution is made pursuant to 

5 subparagraph (A) with respect to a qualified 

6 Mississippi River Delta flooding distribution 

7 from an eligible retirement plan other than an 

8 individual retirement plan, then the taxpayer 

9 shall, to the extent of the amount of the con10 tribution, be treated as having received the 

11 qualified Mississippi River Delta flooding dis12 tribution in an eligible rollover distribution (as 

13 defined in section 402(c)(4) of the Internal 

14 Revenue Code of 1986) and as having trans15 ferred the amount to the eligible retirement 

16 plan in a direct trustee to trustee transfer with17 in 60 days of the distribution. 

18 (C) TREATMENT OF REPAYMENTS FOR

19 DISTRIBUTIONS FROM IRAS.—For purposes of 

20 this title, if a contribution is made pursuant to 

21 subparagraph (A) with respect to a qualified 

22 Mississippi River Delta flooding distribution 

23 from an individual retirement plan (as defined 

24 by section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Revenue 

25 Code of 1986), then, to the extent of the 


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1 amount of the contribution, the qualified Mis2 sissippi River Delta flooding distribution shall 

3 be treated as a distribution described in section 

4 408(d)(3) of such Code and as having been 

5 transferred to the eligible retirement plan in a 

6 direct trustee to trustee transfer within 60 days 

7 of the distribution. 

8 (4) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub9 section— 

10 (A) QUALIFIED MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA

11 FLOODING DISTRIBUTION.—Except as provided 

12 in paragraph (2), the term ‘‘qualified Mis13 sissippi River Delta flooding distribution’’ 

14 means any distribution from an eligible retire15 ment plan made on or after August 11, 2016, 

16 and before January 1, 2018, to an individual 

17 whose principal place of abode on August 11, 

18 2016, is located in the Mississippi River Delta 

19 disaster area and who has sustained an eco20 nomic loss by reason of the severe storms and 

21 flooding giving rise to the Presidential declara22 tion described in subsection (c). 

23 (B) ELIGIBLE RETIREMENT PLAN.—The 

24 term ‘‘eligible retirement plan’’ shall have the 

25 meaning given such term by section 


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1 402(c)(8)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

2 1986. 

3 (5) INCOME INCLUSION SPREAD OVER 3-YEAR

4 PERIOD.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any 

6 qualified Mississippi River Delta flooding dis7 tribution, unless the taxpayer elects not to have 

8 this paragraph apply for any taxable year, any 

9 amount required to be included in gross income 

10 for such taxable year shall be so included rat11 ably over the 3-taxable-year period beginning 

12 with such taxable year. 

13 (B) SPECIAL RULE.—For purposes of sub14 paragraph (A), rules similar to the rules of sub15 paragraph (E) of section 408A(d)(3) of the In16 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 shall apply. 

17 (6) SPECIAL RULES.— 

18 (A) EXEMPTION OF DISTRIBUTIONS FROM

19 TRUSTEE TO TRUSTEE TRANSFER AND WITH20 HOLDING RULES.—For purposes of sections 

21 401(a)(31), 402(f), and 3405 of the Internal 

22 Revenue Code of 1986, qualified Mississippi 

23 River Delta flooding distributions shall not be 

24 treated as eligible rollover distributions. 


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1 (B) QUALIFIED MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA

2 FLOODING DISTRIBUTIONS TREATED AS MEET3 ING PLAN DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS.—For 

4 purposes of this title, a qualified Mississippi 

5 River Delta flooding distribution shall be treat6 ed as meeting the requirements of sections 

7 401(k)(2)(B)(i), 403(b)(7)(A)(ii), 403(b)(11), 

8 and 457(d)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code 

9 of 1986. 

10 (b) PROVISIONS RELATING TO PLAN AMEND11 MENTS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—If this subsection applies to 

13 any amendment to any plan or annuity contract, 

14 such plan or contract shall be treated as being oper15 ated in accordance with the terms of the plan during 

16 the period described in paragraph (2)(B)(i). 

17 (2) AMENDMENTS TO WHICH SUBSECTION AP18 PLIES.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—This subsection shall 

20 apply to any amendment to any plan or annuity 

21 contract which is made— 

22 (i) pursuant to any provision of this 

23 section, or pursuant to any regulation 

24 issued by the Secretary or the Secretary of 


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1 Labor under any provision of this section; 

2 and 

3 (ii) on or before the last day of the 

4 first plan year beginning on or after Janu5 ary 1, 2018, or such later date as the Sec6 retary may prescribe. 

7 In the case of a governmental plan (as defined 

8 in section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code 

9 of 1986), clause (ii) shall be applied by sub10 stituting the date which is 2 years after the 

11 date otherwise applied under clause (ii). 

12 (B) CONDITIONS.—This subsection shall 

13 not apply to any amendment unless— 

14 (i) during the period— 

15 (I) beginning on the date that 

16 this section or the regulation de17 scribed in subparagraph (A)(i) takes 

18 effect (or in the case of a plan or con19 tract amendment not required by this 

20 section or such regulation, the effec21 tive date specified by the plan); and 

22 (II) ending on the date described 

23 in subparagraph (A)(ii) (or, if earlier, 

24 the date the plan or contract amend25 ment is adopted), 


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1 the plan or contract is operated as if such 

2 plan or contract amendment were in effect; 

3 and 

4 (ii) such plan or contract amendment 

5 applies retroactively for such period. 

6 (c) MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA FLOOD DISASTER

7 AREA.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘Mis8 sissippi River Delta flood disaster area’’ means the area 

9 with respect to which a major disaster has been declared 

10 by the President under section 401 of the Robert T. Staf11 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act by 

12 reason of severe storms or flooding occurring in the State 

13 of Louisiana on or after August 11, 2016, and before Sep14 tember 1, 2016. 

Æ 


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