Title: Pension Stability Act
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Pension Stability Act
This bill requires the Department of Labor to establish user fees for qualified professional asset managers (QPAMs) who have been convicted of a crime and apply for an individual exemption (known as a QPAM waiver) to the prohibited transaction rules under requirements for certain private benefit plans.
The fees
Labor must transfer the amounts collected from the user fees to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to assist in guaranteeing benefits under pension plans.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2598 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2598

  To require the payment of user fees by qualified professional asset 
  managers seeking an individual exemption from certain requirements.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 15, 2019

  Ms. Baldwin introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the payment of user fees by qualified professional asset 
  managers seeking an individual exemption from certain requirements.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pension Stability Act''.

SEC. 2. USER FEES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor (referred to in this 
section as the ``Secretary'') shall promulgate regulations establishing 
user fees applicable to large regulated banks, savings and loan 
associations, insurance companies, and federally registered investment 
advisors (referred to in this section as ``entities'') that--
            (1) meet the definition of a ``qualified professional asset 
        manager'', as set forth by the Secretary; and
            (2) apply for an individual exemption, pursuant to the 
        Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-14, from the prohibitions 
        of section 406 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 
        of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1106) and the sanctions resulting from the 
        application of section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
        1986, despite the inability of such entities to comply with 
        section I(g) of the Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-14.
    (b) User Fee Amounts.--
            (1) General fees.--In establishing user fees under 
        subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure that such fees--
                    (A) are not less than $1,000,000 per application 
                for an individual exemption under section I(g) of the 
                Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-14; and
                    (B) are scaled higher than the base fee established 
                under subparagraph (A), based on the severity of the 
                crime related to such application.
            (2) Repeat offenders.--In the case of an entity that 
        previously filed an application for an individual exemption 
        under section I(g) of the Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-
        14 (including a successor company or a company that has 
        subsequently acquired a previous offender), the applicable user 
        fee under paragraph (1) shall be multiplied by the number of 
        such prior applications.
    (c) Transfer of Fees Collected.--
            (1) In general.--Amounts collected in user fees under this 
        section shall be transferred to the first and the second 
        Pension Benefit Guaranty funds described in section 4005(a) of 
        the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 
        1305(a)) and shall be allocated--
                    (A) to the fund used with respect to basic benefits 
                guaranteed under section 4022A of such Act (29 U.S.C. 
                1322a), until such time that the Pension Benefits 
                Guaranty Corporation's annual projections report 
                indicates that such fund and the fund used with respect 
                to basic benefits guaranteed under section 4022 of such 
                Act (29 U.S.C. 1322) have substantially similar future 
                financial conditions and substantially similar risks of 
                insolvency; and
                    (B) thereafter, to each of the funds described in 
                subparagraph (A) in equal amounts, subject to paragraph 
                (2).
            (2) Adjustments to allocations.--If, after amounts 
        collected in user fees under this section have been allocated 
        in accordance with paragraph (1)(B), the Director of the 
        Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation determines that the future 
        financial conditions or risks of insolvency of the funds used 
        with respect to basic benefits guaranteed under each of 
        sections 4022A and 4022 of the Employee Retirement Income 
        Security Act of 1974 are no longer substantially similar as 
        described in paragraph (1)(A), the Director, in consultation 
        with the board of directors of the Pension Benefit Guaranty 
        Corporation, shall determine an appropriate allocation of such 
        amounts between such funds.
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