I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2656 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the Employee Retirement 

Income Security Act of 1974 to make technical modifications relating 

to the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 and the 

Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension 

Relief Act of 2010. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 26, 2011 

Mr. KIND (for himself, Mr. PETRI, and Mr. MCDERMOTT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 

Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to make 

technical modifications relating to the Worker, Retiree, 

and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 and the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and 

Pension Relief Act of 2010. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pension Technical 

3 Modifications Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ELECTIVE EXCLUSION OF PLAN INVESTMENT EX5 PENSES IN DETERMINING TARGET NORMAL 

6 COST. 

7 (a) AMENDMENT TO ERISA.—Section 

8 303(b)(1)(A)(ii) of the Employee Retirement Income Se9 curity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1083(b)(1)(A)(ii)) is 

10 amended by inserting ‘‘(excluding, to the extent elected 

11 by the plan sponsor, plan investment expenses)’’ after 

12 ‘‘plan year’’. 

13 (b) AMENDMENT TO 1986 CODE.—Clause (ii) of sec14 tion 430(b)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

15 is amended by inserting ‘‘(excluding, to the extent elected 

16 by the plan sponsor, plan investment expenses)’’ after 

17 ‘‘plan year’’. 

18 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

20 subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect as if in21 cluded in sections 102 and 112, respectively, of the 

22 Pension Protection Act of 2006. 

23 (2) SPECIAL RULE FOR CLOSED PLAN YEARS.— 

24 In the case of a plan year ending before the date of 

25 the enactment of this Act, any election pursuant to 

26 the amendments made by this section with respect 


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1 to such plan year must be made not later than 180 

2 days after such date. 

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE PLAN YEAR. 

4 (a) AMENDMENT TO ERISA.—Clause (v) of section 

5 303(c)(2)(D) of the Employee Retirement Income Secu6 rity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1083(c)(2)(D)), as added by 

7 section 201(a)(1) of the Preservation of Access to Care 

8 for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010, 

9 is amended— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘on or after the date of the en11 actment of this subparagraph’’ and inserting ‘‘on or 

12 after June 25, 2010 (March 10, 2010, in the case 

13 of an eligible plan)’’, and 

14 (2) by adding at the end the following new sen15 tence: ‘‘For purposes of the preceding sentence, a 

16 plan shall be treated as an eligible plan only if, as 

17 of the date of the election with respect to the plan 

18 under clause (i)— 

19 ‘‘(A) the plan sponsor is not a debtor in a 

20 case under title 11, United States Code, or 

21 similar Federal or State law, 

22 ‘‘(B) there are no unpaid minimum re23 quired contributions with respect to the plan for 

24 purposes of section 4971 of the Internal Rev25 enue Code of 1986 (imposing an excise tax 


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1 when minimum required contributions are not 

2 paid by the due date for the plan year), 

3 ‘‘(C) there are no outstanding liens in 

4 favor of the plan under subsection (k), and 

5 ‘‘(D) the plan sponsor has not initiated a 

6 distress termination of the plan under section 

7 4041.’’. 

8 (b) AMENDMENT TO 1986 CODE.—Clause (v) of sec9 tion 430(c)(2)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 

10 as added by section 201(b)(1) of the Preservation of Ac11 cess to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief 

12 Act of 2010, is amended— 

13 (1) by striking ‘‘on or after the date of the en14 actment of this subparagraph’’ and inserting ‘‘on or 

15 after June 25, 2010 (March 10, 2010, in the case 

16 of an eligible plan)’’, and 

17 (2) by adding at the end the following new sen18 tence: ‘‘For purposes of the preceding sentence, a 

19 plan shall be treated as an eligible plan only if, as 

20 of the date of the election with respect to the plan 

21 under clause (i)— 

22 ‘‘(A) the plan sponsor is not a debtor in a 

23 case under title 11, United States Code, or 

24 similar Federal or State law, 


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1 ‘‘(B) there are no unpaid minimum re2 quired contributions with respect to the plan for 

3 purposes of section 4971 (imposing an excise 

4 tax when minimum required contributions are 

5 not paid by the due date for the plan year), 

6 ‘‘(C) there are no outstanding liens in 

7 favor of the plan under subsection (k), and 

8 ‘‘(D) the plan sponsor has not initiated a 

9 distress termination of the plan under section 

10 4041 of the Employee Retirement Income Secu11 rity Act of 1974.’’. 

12 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

13 this section shall take effect as if included in the amend14 ments made by the provisions of the Preservation of Ac15 cess to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief 

16 Act of 2010 to which the amendments relate. 

17 SEC. 4. ELIGIBLE CHARITY PLANS. 

18 (a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE CHARITY PLANS.— 

19 Section 104(d) of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, as 

20 added by section 202(b) of the Preservation of Access to 

21 Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act 

22 of 2010, is amended— 

23 (1) by inserting ‘‘, if the plan sponsor so 

24 elects,’’ after ‘‘shall’’, and 


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1 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Any 

2 election made under the preceding sentence shall be 

3 made at such time and in such form and manner as 

4 shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury 

5 and, for elections with respect to plan years begin6 ning more than 1 year after the date of the enact7 ment of the Pension Technical Modifications Act, 

8 may be revoked only with the consent of the Sec9 retary.’’. 

10 (b) APPLICATION OF NEW RULES TO ELIGIBLE

11 CHARITY PLANS.—Paragraph (2) of section 202(c) of the 

12 Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries 

13 and Pension Relief Act of 2010 is amended to read as 

14 follows: 

15 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE CHARITY PLANS.—The amend16 ments made by subsection (b) shall apply to plan 

17 years beginning after December 31, 2010, except 

18 that a plan sponsor may elect to apply such amend19 ments to plan years beginning after an earlier 

20 date.’’. 

21 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

22 this section shall take effect as if included in the provisions 

23 of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Bene24 ficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 to which they re25 late. 


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1 SEC. 5. SUSPENSION OF CERTAIN FUNDING LEVEL LIMITA2 TIONS. 

3 (a) LIMITATIONS ON BENEFIT ACCRUALS.—Section 

4 203 of the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act 

5 of 2008 is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘the first plan year beginning 

7 during the period beginning on October 1, 2008, and 

8 ending on September 30, 2009’’ and inserting ‘‘any 

9 plan year beginning during the period beginning on 

10 October 1, 2008, and ending on December 31, 

11 2011’’; 

12 (2) by striking ‘‘substituting’’ and all that fol13 lows through ‘‘for such plan year’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘substituting for such percentage the plan’s ad15 justed funding target attainment percentage for the 

16 last plan year ending before September 30, 2009,’’; 

17 and 

18 (3) by striking ‘‘for the preceding plan year is 

19 greater’’ and inserting ‘‘for such last plan year is 

20 greater’’. 

21 (b) SOCIAL SECURITY LEVEL-INCOME OPTIONS.— 

22 (1) AMENDMENT TO ERISA.—Section 

23 206(g)(3)(E) of the Employee Retirement Income 

24 Security Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the 

25 end the following new sentence: ‘‘For purposes of 

26 applying clause (i) payments under a social security 


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1 leveling option shall be treated as not in excess of 

2 the monthly amount paid under a single life annuity 

3 (plus an amount not in excess of a social security 

4 supplement described in the last sentence of section 

5 204(b)(1)(G)).’’. 

6 (2) AMENDMENT TO 1986 CODE.—Section 

7 436(d)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following new 

9 sentence: ‘‘For purposes of applying subparagraph 

10 (A) payments under a social security leveling option 

11 shall be treated as not in excess of the monthly 

12 amount paid under a single life annuity (plus an 

13 amount not in excess of a social security supplement 

14 described in the last sentence of section 

15 411(a)(9)).’’. 

16 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made 

18 by this subsection shall apply to annuity pay19 ments the annuity starting date for which oc20 curs on or after January 1, 2012. 

21 (B) PERMITTED APPLICATION.—A plan 

22 shall not be treated as failing to meet the re23 quirements of sections 206(g) of the Employee 

24 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (as 

25 amended by this subsection) and section 436(d) 


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1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as so 

2 amended) if the plan sponsor elects to apply the 

3 amendments made by this subsection to pay4 ments the annuity starting date for which oc5 curs during elected months prior to January 1, 

6 2012. 

7 (c) REPEAL OF RELATED PROVISIONS.—The provi8 sions of, and the amendments made by, section 203 of 

9 the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Bene10 ficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 are repealed and 

11 the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 

12 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and the Worker, Re13 tiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (Public Law 

14 110–458; 122 Stat. 5118) shall be applied as if such sec15 tion had never been enacted. 

16 (d) PLANS MAINTAINED BY CHARITIES.— 

17 (1) AMENDMENT TO ERISA.—Section 

18 303(f)(3)(D)(i) of the Employee Retirement and In19 come Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

20 1083(f)(3)(D)(i)) is amended by striking ‘‘Sep21 tember 1, 2011’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1, 2012’’. 

22 (2) AMENDMENT TO 1986 CODE.—Clause (i) of 

23 section 430(f)(3)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code 


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1 of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘September 1, 

2 2011’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1, 2012’’. 

Æ 


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