Title: Health Benefits for Miners Act of 2019
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Health Benefits for Miners Act of 2019
This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to transfer additional funds to provide health benefits for retired coal miners. The bill adds miners affected by 2018 coal company bankruptcies to the group whose retiree health benefits are taken into account in determining the amount that Treasury must transfer under current law to the Multiemployer Health Benefit Plan.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 934 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 934

  To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to 
include certain retirees in the Multiemployer Health Benefit Plan, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 31, 2019

     Mr. Scott of Virginia (for himself and Ms. Wilson of Florida) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to 
include certain retirees in the Multiemployer Health Benefit Plan, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 ``Health Benefits for Miners Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. INCLUSION IN MULTIEMPLOYER HEALTH BENEFIT PLAN.

    (a) In General.--Section 402(h)(2)(C) of the Surface Mining Control 
and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1232(h)(2)(C)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``the Health Benefits for Miners Act of 
        2017'' both places it appears in clause (ii) and inserting 
        ``the Health Benefits for Miners Act of 2019'';
            (2) by striking ``, would be denied or reduced as a result 
        of a bankruptcy proceeding commenced in 2012 or 2015'' in 
        clause (ii)(II) and inserting ``or a related coal wage 
        agreement, would be denied or reduced as a result of a 
        bankruptcy proceeding commenced in 2012, 2015, or 2018'';
            (3) by striking ``January 1, 2017'' in clause (ii) and 
        inserting ``January 1, 2019''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following new clause:
                            ``(vi) Related coal wage agreement.--For 
                        purposes of clause (ii), the term `related coal 
                        wage agreement' means an agreement between the 
                        United Mine Workers of America and an employer 
                        in the bituminous coal industry that--
                                    ``(I) is a signatory operator; or
                                    ``(II) is or was a debtor in a 
                                bankruptcy proceeding that was 
                                consolidated, administratively or 
                                otherwise, with the bankruptcy 
                                proceeding of a signatory operator or a 
                                related person to a signatory operator 
                                (as those terms are defined in section 
                                9701(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
                                1986).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to fiscal years beginning after September 30, 2018.
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