I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3596 
To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to adjust 
single-employer premiums, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 28, 2017 
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. KIND) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Rules, and the Budget, 
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 Employee Retirement Income Security Act 
of 1974 to adjust single-employer premiums, and for 
other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Rightsizing Pension 
Premiums Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. RIGHTSIZING PENSION PREMIUMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4006(a) of the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 
1306(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(9) PREMIUM ADJUSTMENTS FOR SMALL EM-
PLOYERS AND BASED ON PBGC FUNDED PERCENT-
AGE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para-
graph (3)(A)(i) and subject to subparagraphs 
(B) and (C), the annual premium rate payable 
to the corporation by a single-employer plan for 
basic benefits guaranteed under this title is— 
‘‘(i) in the case of a single-employer 
plan for any plan year beginning in a fiscal 
year with respect to which the average of 
the single-employer pension insurance pro-
gram funded percentages for the 2 fiscal 
years immediately preceding such fiscal 
year is 110 percent or greater, an amount 
for each individual who is a participant in 
such plan during the plan year equal to the 
sum of $19 and an additional premium 
equal to the quotient (not to exceed $500) 
obtained by dividing— 
‘‘(I) an amount equal to $9 for 
each $1,000 (or fraction thereof) of 
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unfunded vested benefits under the 
plan as of the close of the preceding 
plan year, by 
‘‘(II) the number of participants 
in such plan as of the close of the pre-
ceding plan year; 
‘‘(ii) in the case of a single-employer 
plan for any plan year beginning in a fiscal 
year with respect to which the average of 
the single-employer pension insurance pro-
gram funded percentages for the 2 fiscal 
years immediately preceding such fiscal 
year is at least 100 percent but less than 
110 percent, an amount for each individual 
who is a participant in such plan during 
the plan year equal to the sum of $30 and 
an additional premium equal to the 
quotient (not to exceed $500) obtained by 
dividing— 
‘‘(I) an amount equal to $9 for 
each $1,000 (or fraction thereof) of 
unfunded vested benefits under the 
plan as of the close of the preceding 
plan year, by 
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cable percentage’ is the ratio (expressed as 
a percentage) of— 
‘‘(I) the number of employees of 
the employer to the extent such num-
ber exceeds 500, over 
‘‘(II) 100. 
‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR MULTIPLE EM-
PLOYER PLANS.—In the case of a multiple em-
ployer plan (other than a CSEC plan (as de-
fined in section 210(f))), the annual premium 
rate payable to the corporation by such plan for 
basic benefits guaranteed under this title is the 
sum of the annual premiums that, if each em-
ployer maintaining such plan were treated as 
maintaining a separate plan in which— 
‘‘(i) the number of participants equals 
the number of participants in the multiple 
employer plan who are employed (or for-
merly employed) by such employer, and 
‘‘(ii) the amount of unfunded vested 
benefits equals the portion of the unfunded 
vested benefits under the multiple em-
ployer plan attributable to such employer, 
would be imposed on each separate plan in ac-
cordance with this section. In determining the 
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annual premiums that would be imposed on 
each of the separate plans described under this 
subparagraph, the determination of whether an 
employer is a small employer shall be made sep-
arately with respect to each employer maintain-
ing the multiple employer plan. 
‘‘(D) SPECIAL RULE FOR SMALL EMPLOY-
ERS WITH 25 OR FEWER EMPLOYEES.—In the 
case of a single-employer plan maintained by a 
small employer who has 25 or fewer employees 
on the first day of the plan year (as determined 
under paragraph (3)(I)(ii)), the additional pre-
mium otherwise determined under subpara-
graph (A)(iv) shall not exceed $5 multiplied by 
the number of participants in the plan as of the 
close of the preceding plan year. 
‘‘(E) 
WAGE
INDEXING
OF
CERTAIN 
AMOUNTS.—For each plan year beginning in a 
calendar year after 2018, there shall be sub-
stituted for each of the first and second dollar 
amounts in clause (ii) of subparagraph (A) and 
the first, second, and third dollar amounts in 
clause (iii) of such subparagraph an amount 
equal to the greater of— 
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‘‘(i) the product derived by multi-
plying each such amount by the ratio of— 
‘‘(I) the national average wage 
index (as defined in section 209(k)(1) 
of the Social Security Act) for the 
first of the 2 calendar years preceding 
the calendar year in which such plan 
year begins, to 
‘‘(II) the national average wage 
index (as so defined) for 2016; and 
‘‘(ii) each such amount as in effect for 
plan years beginning in the preceding cal-
endar year. 
If any amount determined under this subpara-
graph is not a multiple of $1, such product 
shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of $1. 
‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 
paragraph: 
‘‘(i) SMALL
EMPLOYER.—The term 
‘small employer’ means an employer who 
has 500 or fewer employees on the first 
day of the plan year. 
‘‘(ii) MULTIPLE
EMPLOYER
PLAN.— 
The term ‘multiple employer plan’ means a 
single-employer plan maintained by more 
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than one employer (as determined under 
section 210(a)). 
‘‘(iii) SINGLE-EMPLOYER PENSION IN-
SURANCE
PROGRAM
FUNDED
PERCENT-
AGE.—The term ‘single-employer pension 
insurance program funded percentage’ for 
a fiscal year means the ratio (expressed as 
a percentage) of— 
‘‘(I) the value of all assets held 
by the corporation in any trust or re-
volving fund on the last day of such 
fiscal year available for the payment 
of basic benefits guaranteed under 
section 4022, to 
‘‘(II) the present value (as deter-
mined in accordance with section 
303(h) without regard to paragraph 
(2)(C)(iv)) of the liabilities of the cor-
poration attributable to such guaran-
teed benefits on the last day of such 
fiscal year. 
‘‘(iv) 
UNFUNDED
VESTED
BENE-
FITS.—The term ‘unfunded vested bene-
fits’ has the meaning given such term in 
paragraph (3)(E)(iii), except that with re-
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spect to a CSEC plan (as defined in sec-
tion 210(f)), such term means the excess 
of— 
‘‘(I) the plan’s funding liability 
(as defined in section 306(j)(5)(C)), 
determined by only taking into ac-
count vested benefits, over 
‘‘(II) the fair market value of 
plan assets for the plan year which 
are held by the plan on the valuation 
date.’’. 
(b) INDIVIDUALS PARTICIPATING
IN MORE THAN 
ONE PLAN.—Section 4006(a)(3)(B) of the Employee Re-
tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 
1306(a)(3)(B)) is amended by inserting ‘‘or paragraph 
(9)’’ after ‘‘subparagraph (A)(i)’’. 
(c) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
4006(a)(3)(A) of the Employee Retirement Income Secu-
rity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1306) is amended in the mat-
ter preceding clause (i) by inserting ‘‘and paragraph (9)’’ 
after ‘‘subparagraph (C)’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this shall apply with respect to plan years beginning after 
December 31, 2017. 
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SEC. 3. CORRECTION OF THE BUDGET EFFECTS OF PRE-
MIUM CHANGES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In the Senate and the House of 
Representatives, for purposes of determining points of 
order under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 
U.S.C. 621 et seq.) or any concurrent resolution on the 
budget, any provision that increases or decreases, or ex-
tends the increase or decrease of, any premiums payable 
to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation shall not be 
counted in estimating the level of budget authority, out-
lays, or revenues— 
(1) in the Senate, for any bill, joint resolution, 
amendment, amendment between the Houses, con-
ference report, or motion; or 
(2) in the House of Representatives, for any bill 
or joint resolution, or amendment thereto or con-
ference report thereon. 
(b) RULES OF SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENT-
ATIVES.—Congress adopts the provisions of this section— 
(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 
the Senate and the House of Representatives, re-
spectively, and as such is deemed a part of the rules 
of each House, respectively, and supersede other 
rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent 
with such rules; and 
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(2) with full recognition of the constitutional 
right of either House to change the rules (so far as 
relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 
in the same manner, and to the same extent as in 
the case of any other rule of that House. 
Æ 
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