Employees' Pension Security Act of 2005

Bill: 109-hr-4055
Sponsor: Rep. Visclosky, Peter J. [D-IN-1]
Introduced: 2005-10-07 in the House
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Administrative fees
Administrative procedure
Administrative remedies
Annuities
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy courts
Civil actions and liability
Collection of accounts
Collective bargaining
Corporate reorganizations
Defined benefit pension plans
Department of Labor
Early retirement
Employee ownership
Employee rights
Evidence (Law)
Families
Fees
Finance and Financial Sector
Financial statements
Fines (Penalties)
Government Operations and Politics
Government corporations
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Information disclosure (Securities law)
Injunctions
Investments
Labor contracts
Labor unions
Law
Loans
Old age, survivors and disability insurance
Parties to actions
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Pension funds
Pension trust guaranty insurance
Real property
Reinsurance
Social Welfare
Survivors' benefits
Trusts and trustees

Summary:
action_date: 2005-10-07
text: 
Employees&#146; Pension Security Act of 2005 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require assets of single-employer pension plans to be held in trust by joint boards of trustees.
 
Requires pension plan benefit statements to be provided periodically to plan participants (as well as, under current law, to any plan participant or beneficiary who so requests). Directs the Secretary of Labor to develop a model benefit statement to be used by plan administrators.
 
Requires plan sponsors and administrators to provide all material investment information in an accurate form to participants and beneficiaries. Authorizes the Secretary to assess civil penalties for violations of certain information requirements.
 
Sets forth additional requirements for plan termination, to prevent abuse of the bankruptcy and termination process, including requirements relating to: (1) distress termination; (2) bankruptcy court decrees, and the right to intervene to challenge them; (3) consideration of alternatives by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and the plan sponsor; (4) PBGC efforts at consulting on alternatives with plan participants and their union representatives; and (5) notice of the right to challenge determinations relating to plan termination.
 
Amends federal bankruptcy law to include, in a priority order for recovery of expenses and claims, allowed unsecured claims for benefit liabilities to participants and beneficiaries under a single-employer plan in connection with the plan termination, in excess of the benefits payable to them by the PBGC in connection with such termination.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-06
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.
action_date: 2005-11-17
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations.
action_date: 2005-10-07
text: Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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: 2005-10-07
text: Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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: 2005-10-07
text: Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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: 2005-10-07
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2005-10-07
text: Introduced in House