Pension Benefits Protection Act of 2003

Bill: 108-hr-1677
Sponsor: Rep. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT-At Large]
Introduced: 2003-04-08 in the House
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Age discrimination
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Defined benefit pension plans
Department of the Treasury
Early retirement
Employee rights
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Law
Retirement age
Social Welfare
Tax administration
Taxation

Summary:
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Pension Benefits Protection Act of 2003 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code) to protect pension benefits of employees in defined benefit (DB) plans, and to ensure that age discrimination laws are applied to conversions to cash balance plans and other such plans that are hybrids of DB's and defined contribution plans.
Requires ERISA, the Code, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1967 to be applied and administered without regard to certain proposed regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury that relate to reductions of accruals and allocations because of the attainment of any age, and to application of nondiscrimination cross-testing rules to cash balance plans.
Amends ERISA and the Code to protect certain DB plan participants from forced conversions to hybrid DB plans by plan amendments which change the way the accrued benefit to participants or beneficiaries are expressed and which reduce the rate of future benefit accrual of one or more participants. Requires employers, at the time such amendment takes effect, to provide employees who have attained 40 years of age or 10 years of service with certain notices and an election upon retirement to receive benefits as determined either under the plan in effect at time of retirement or under the plan in effect immediately before the plan amendment.
Sets forth a formula to determine when a plan amendment adopted by a large (100 or more participants) DB plan shall be treated as wearing away accrued benefits.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-05-02
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations.
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee 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.
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee 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.
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee 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.
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E708-709)
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Introduced in House