I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3501 
To establish a procedure under which certain small employers may withdraw 
from a multiemployer plan in connection with the establishment of a 
collectively bargained plan. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 27, 2017 
Mr. PAULSEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Com-
mittee 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 establish a procedure under which certain small employers 
may withdraw from a multiemployer plan in connection 
with the establishment of a collectively bargained plan. 
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 ‘‘Family-Owned Busi-
ness Multiemployer Pension Correction Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. WITHDRAWAL BY CERTAIN SMALL EMPLOYERS 
FROM MULTIEMPLOYER PLANS IN CONNEC-
TION WITH ESTABLISHMENT OF A COLLEC-
TIVELY BARGAINED PLAN. 
(a) DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY.— 
(1) PERIOD FOR MAKING APPLICATION.—Not 
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall es-
tablish a program under which covered small em-
ployers may, during the 1-year period beginning 6 
months after the date that the Secretary establishes 
such program, apply to have the Secretary determine 
the eligibility of such employer for the benefits of 
subsection (d) with respect to a multiemployer plan. 
(2) DEADLINE
FOR
DETERMINATION.—Not 
later than 90 days after the close of the 1-year pe-
riod described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
notify each covered small employer which applied 
under such program of whether such employer is eli-
gible for the benefits of subsection (d) with respect 
to the multiemployer plan to which the employer’s 
application relates. 
(b) APPLICATION.— 
(1) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Any applica-
tion of a covered small employer submitted under 
subsection (a)(1) shall include— 
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(A) the name of such employer, 
(B) the multiemployer plan with respect to 
which such application relates, 
(C) the total plan liabilities of such plan 
determined as of the close of the last plan year 
ending before the date of such application, 
(D) the portion of the total plan liabilities 
of such plan which are properly attributable to 
plan participants with respect to which such 
employer is required to contribute to such plan 
determined as of the close of the plan year re-
ferred to in subparagraph (C), 
(E) the amounts described in paragraphs 
(C) and (D) which are projected (on the basis 
of reasonable actuarial assumptions) to be de-
termined as of the close of each of the 2 plan 
years succeeding the plan year referred to in 
subparagraph (C), 
(F) the address of each separate business 
location of such employer at which plan partici-
pants are employed by such employer, 
(G) the highest number of such plan par-
ticipants so employed at each such separate 
business location on any time during the 3-year 
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period ending on the date of such application, 
and 
(H) such other information as the Sec-
retary may require. 
(2) USER FEES.—An application submitted by 
an employer under subsection (a)(1) shall be treated 
as described in section 7528(a)(2) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 and the user fee imposed 
with respect to each such application shall be $1,000 
multiplied by the number of separate business loca-
tions of such employer at which plan participants 
are employed by such employer. 
(3) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—The Secretary 
may request such additional information after sub-
mission of the application described in paragraph (1) 
as the Secretary may require for purposes of deter-
mining the employer’s eligibility for the benefits of 
subsection (d). 
(c) STANDARD FOR MAKING ELIGIBILITY DETER-
MINATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not de-
termine that any covered small employer making ap-
plication for the benefits of subsection (d) with re-
spect to any multiemployer plan is eligible for such 
benefits unless the Secretary determines that the ag-
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gregate affected plan liabilities of such plan do not 
exceed 1 percent of the total plan liabilities of such 
plan with respect to any of the 3 plan years begin-
ning with the plan year referred to in subsection 
(b)(1)(C) (determined as of the close of each such 
year). 
(2) AGGREGATE
AFFECTED
PLAN
LIABIL-
ITIES.—For purposes of paragraph (1), the term 
‘‘aggregate affected plan liabilities’’ means, with re-
spect to any multiemployer plan, the aggregate plan 
liabilities of such plan which are properly attrib-
utable to plan participants with respect to one more 
employers who applied for the benefits of subsection 
(d) with respect to such plan. 
(d) LIMITATION ON WITHDRAWAL LIABILITY.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—In the case of a covered 
small employer which— 
(A) is determined by the Secretary to be 
eligible for the benefits of this subsection with 
respect to a multiemployer plan to which such 
employer is required to contribute, and 
(B) is required to contribute (as deter-
mined by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Cor-
poration, in consultation with the Secretary, im-
mediately after the employer’s withdrawal from 
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such multiemployer plan) to a collectively bar-
gained plan the plan participants of which in-
clude all of the plan participants of such multi-
employer plan who were accruing benefits with 
respect to such employer under such multiem-
ployer plan immediately before such withdrawal, 
section 4225(a) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 shall apply to such employer 
in the same manner as such section applies in the 
case of a bona fide sale of substantially all of the 
employer’s assets in an arm’s length transaction to 
an unrelated party. 
(2) APPLICATION.—For purposes of title IV of 
the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
1974, a determination of withdrawal liability pursu-
ant to paragraph (1) shall be treated as a deter-
mination made under such title. 
(3) TIME
LIMITATION.—Paragraph (1) shall 
not apply with respect to any withdrawal from a 
multiemployer plan by a covered small employer if 
the date of such of withdrawal is more than 3 years 
after the date of the notice described in subsection 
(a)(2). 
(e) DEFINITIONS.— 
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(1) COVERED
SMALL
EMPLOYER.—The term 
‘‘covered small employer’’ means an employer— 
(A) that is described in the North Amer-
ican Industry Classification System industry 
sector for retail trade; and 
(B) that does not employ more than 100 
plan participants at any separate business loca-
tion on any day during the 3-year period ending 
on the date of the application referred to in 
subsection (b). 
(2) MULTIEMPLOYER PLAN.—The term ‘‘multi-
employer plan’’ has the meaning given such term in 
section 4001 of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974. 
(3) COLLECTIVELY
BARGAINED
PLAN.—The 
term ‘‘collectively bargained plan’’ means a plan 
maintained pursuant to one or more collective bar-
gaining agreements between employee representa-
tives and one or more employers. 
(4) SECRETARY
OF
THE
TREASURY.—The 
terms ‘‘Secretary of the Treasury’’ and ‘‘Secretary’’ 
both mean the Secretary of the Treasury (or his del-
egate), after consultation with the Secretary of 
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Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corpora-
tion. 
Æ 
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