I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2968
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow expanded penalty-
free withdrawals from certain retirement plans during periods of unem-
ployment for any employee of an air carrier or of a manufacturer of
aircraft or parts or components of aircraft.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 25, 2001
Mr. TIAHRT (for himself, Ms. DUNN of Washington, Mr. SERRANO, Ms.
HART, and Mrs. CHRISTENSEN) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow ex-
panded penalty-free withdrawals from certain retirement
plans during periods of unemployment for any employee
of an air carrier or of a manufacturer of aircraft or
parts or components of aircraft.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aviation Employee As-
sistance Relief Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. DISTRIBUTIONS FROM CERTAIN PLANS MAY BE
USED WITHOUT PENALTY DURING PERIODS
OF UNEMPLOYMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 72(t) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to exceptions
to 10-percent additional tax on early distributions from
qualified retirement plans) is amended by adding at the
end the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(G) ADDITIONAL DISTRIBUTIONS TO IN-
DIVIDUALS SEPARATED FROM EMPLOYMENT BY
AIR CARRIERS, AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURERS, OR
MANUFACTURERS OF PARTS OR COMPONENTS
OF AIRCRAFT.—
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Distributions from
an individual retirement plan, or from
amounts attributable to employer contribu-
tions made pursuant to elective deferrals
described in subparagraph (A) or (C) of
section 
402(g)(3) 
or 
section
501(c)(18)(D)(iii), to an individual after
separation from qualified employment if—
‘‘(I) such individual has received
unemployment compensation for 12
consecutive weeks under any Federal
or State unemployment compensation
law by reason of such separation, and
‘‘(II) such distributions are made
during the period beginning on the
date of such separation and ending on
June 30, 2003.
‘‘(ii) QUALIFIED EMPLOYMENT.—For
purposes of this subparagraph, the term
‘qualified employment’ means employment
by an air carrier (as defined in section
4102 of title 49, United States Code), by
an aircraft manufacturer, or by a manu-
facturer of parts or components of aircraft.
‘‘(iii) DISTRIBUTIONS
AFTER
REEM-
PLOYMENT.—Clause (i) shall not apply to
any distribution made after the individual
has been employed on a fulltime basis for
at least 60 days after the separation from
employment to which clause (i) applies.
‘‘(iv) COORDINATION WITH SUBPARA-
GRAPH (D).—Distributions during the pe-
riod described in clause (i)(II) shall not be
taken into account in applying the limita-
tion under subparagraph (D)(i)(III).’’
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(1) Section 401(k)(2)(B)(i) of such Code is
amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subclause
(III), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subclause (IV)
and inserting ‘‘or’’, and by inserting after subclause
(IV) the following new subclause:
‘‘(V) the date on which a period
referred to in section 72(t)(2)(G) be-
gins, and’’.
(2) Section 403(b)(11) of such Code is amend-
ed by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph (A),
by striking the period at the end of subparagraph
(B) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and by inserting after sub-
paragraph (B) the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(C) for distributions to which section
72(t)(2)(G) applies.’’
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply to distributions after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
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