other protective provisions that the Board deter-
mines are appropriate. 
‘‘(3) FEES.—An eligible plan sponsor receiving 
a guarantee under this section shall pay a fee in an 
amount equal to 0.5 percent of the outstanding prin-
cipal balance of the guaranteed loan to the Depart-
ment of the Treasury. 
‘‘(g) REPORTS
TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary of 
Labor shall submit annually to each House of the Con-
gress a full report of the activities of the Board under 
this section during 2004 and 2005, and annually there-
after during such period as any loan guaranteed under 
this section is outstanding. Such report shall be submitted 
not later than January 31, of each year (beginning in 
2004). 
‘‘(h) SALARIES AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—
For necessary expenses to administer the Program, there 
is authorized to be appropriated to the Department of 
Labor (and to be transferred to the Office of the Assistant 
Secretary for Pension and Welfare Benefits Administra-
tion) $10,000,000, to remain available until expended. 
‘‘(i) TERMINATION OF GUARANTEE AUTHORITY.—
The authority of the Board to make commitments to guar-
antee any loan under this section shall terminate on De-
cember 31, 2007.
‘‘(j) REGULATORY ACTION.—The Board shall issue 
such final procedures, rules, and regulations as may be 
necessary to carry out this section not later than 90 days 
after the date of enactment of the Emergency Retiree 
Health Benefits Protection Act of 2003. In no event shall 
the Board issue a procedure, rule, or regulation which au-
thorizes it to approve or deny any application for a loan 
guarantee in more than 270 days after receipt of such ap-
plication. 
‘‘(k) 
EMERGENCY
DESIGNATION.—The 
entire 
amount made available to carry out this section—
‘‘(1) is designated by Congress as an emergency 
requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the 
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 
Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(A)); and 
‘‘(2) shall be available only to the extent that 
an official budget request that includes designation 
of the entire amount as an emergency requirement 
(as defined in the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
Deficit Control Act of 1985) is transmitted by the 
President to the Congress. 
‘‘SEC. 806. EFFECT ON OTHER CLAIMS. 
‘‘(a) OTHER CLAIMS UNAFFECTED.—Nothing con-
tained in this part shall be construed to alter, impair, or 
eliminate any claim for retiree health benefits based on
conduct alleged to violate the terms of a group health plan, 
any provision of this Act (other than this part), or both, 
regardless of whether such conduct occurred prior to, on, 
or after, the effective date of this part. 
‘‘(b) OTHER CAUSES
OF ACTION NOT AUTHOR-
IZED.—Unless the conduct giving rise to a claim for re-
tiree health benefits is alleged to violate the provisions of 
this part, nothing contained in this part shall be construed 
to authorize any other cause of action for the recovery of 
retiree health benefits. 
‘‘SEC. 807. REGULATIONS. 
‘‘The Secretary may promulgate such regulations as 
may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this part. 
The Secretary may promulgate any interim final rules as 
the Secretary deems are appropriate to carry out this part. 
‘‘SEC. 808. ENFORCEMENT. 
‘‘The enforcement provisions of sections 501 and 502 
shall be applicable to this part.’’. 
(b) CIVIL PENALTY SECTION.—Section 502(c) of the 
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 
U.S.C. 1132(e)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(8) The Secretary may assess a civil penalty of not 
more than $1,000 for each separate violation of section 
801, 802, or 803 by any person individually with respect
to each participant or beneficiary aggrieved by such viola-
tion.’’. 
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con-
tents in section 1 of such Act is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 734 the following new 
items:
‘‘PART 8—EMERGENCY RETIREE HEALTH BENEFIT PROTECTIONS 
‘‘Sec. 801. Prohibition against post-retirement reductions of retiree health ben-
efits by group health plans. 
‘‘Sec. 802. Adoption by group health plans of provision barring post-retirement 
reductions in retiree health benefits. 
‘‘Sec. 803. Restoration by group health plans of benefits reduced after retire-
ment. 
‘‘Sec. 804. Exemption from restoration of benefits requirements. 
‘‘Sec. 805. Establishment of emergency retiree health loan guarantee program. 
‘‘Sec. 806. Effect on other claims. 
‘‘Sec. 807. Regulations. 
‘‘Sec. 808. Enforcement.’’.
SEC. 4. SEPARABILITY OF PROVISIONS. 
The provisions of section 509 of the Employee Retire-
ment Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1139) shall 
be applicable to this Act and the amendments made there-
by. 
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 
on the date of the enactment of this Act.
Æ