jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2015-05-14 00:00:00

Lifetime Income Disclosure Act 

 Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require the quarterly pension benefit statement furnished to a participant or beneficiary with the right to direct the investment of assets in his or her account under an individual account plan to include a lifetime income disclosure at least once during any 12-month period.

Requires such lifetime income disclosure to set forth the lifetime income stream equivalent of the participant's or beneficiary's total benefits accrued. Defines a lifetime income stream equivalent of the total benefits accrued as the monthly annuity payment the participant or beneficiary would receive if those total accrued benefits were used to provide lifetime income streams to a qualified joint and survivor annuitant.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to:

 issue a model lifetime income disclosure, written in a manner which can be understood by the average plan participant; and prescribe assumptions that plan administrators may use in converting total accrued benefits into lifetime income stream equivalents. Declares that no plan fiduciary, plan sponsor, or other person shall have any liability under ERISA solely by reason of the provision of lifetime income stream equivalents derived in accordance with such assumptions and related rules and including explanations contained in the model lifetime income disclosure.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2015-05-15 00:00:00

This bill requires that all monies designated for union health insurance plans or funds be, without exception, fully reciprocated to a worker's home health plan or fund.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-05-21 00:00:00

(Sec. 1) This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the additional 50% depreciation allowance, known as bonus depreciation, for depreciable business property (i.e., qualified property) placed in service after December 31, 2014. The term "qualified property" is modified to include qualified improvement property, in lieu of qualified leasehold improvement property, which is defined as any improvement to an interior portion of a building that is nonresidential real property if such improvement is placed in service after the date such building was first placed in service. The bill also increases by $8,000 (with an annual inflation adjustment after 2015) the maximum allowable depreciation deduction for a passenger automobile (i.e., any 4-wheeled vehicle that is manufactured primarily for use on public streets, roads, and highways and is rated at 6,000 pounds unloaded gross vehicle weight or less).

The bill also makes permanent the election to increase the alternative minium tax credit limitation in lieu of bonus depreciation for taxable years ending after December 31, 2014.

The bill allows an additional depreciation allowance for any specified plant that is planted, or grafted to a plant that has already been planted, by the taxpayer in the ordinary course of the taxpayer's farming business. The term "specified plant" means: (1) any tree or vine that bears fruits or nuts, and (2) any other plant that will have more than one yield of fruits or nuts and that generally has a period of more than two years from the time of planting or grafting to the time at which such plant begins bearing fruits or nuts. This allowance is applicable to specified plants planted or grafted after December 31, 2014.

(Sec. 2) The bill prohibits the entry of the budgetary effects of this Act on any PAYGO scorecard maintained pursuant to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-06-04 00:00:00

Receiving Electronic Statements To Improve Retiree Earnings Act

This bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code to authorize a document of any type that is required or permitted to be furnished to a retirement plan participant, beneficiary, or other individual to be furnished in electronic form if: (1) the system for furnishing such a document is designed to result in effective access to the document; (2) an annual paper notice is provided to each pension plan participant, beneficiary, or other individual that describes the selection of the specific electronic means for the furnishing of such document; and (3) the electronically-furnished document is prepared and furnished in an appropriate style and format and includes a notice that apprises the recipient of the significance of the document.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-06-15 00:00:00

Group Term Life Insurance Increase Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the limit on the amount of employer-provided group term life insurance that an employee may exclude from his or her gross income for income tax purposes. Currently, an employee may exclude from gross income up to $50,000 of the cost of such insurance plus any amount paid by the employee for the purchase of such insurance. The bill increases the $50,000 limit to $375,000, and adjusts such increased limit for inflation in taxable years beginning after 2015.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2015-06-19 00:00:00

Keep Our Pension Promises Act 

This bill repeals the elimination of the pension anti-cutback provisions under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014. The anti-cutback provisions prohibit reductions in pension benefits to participants in multiemployer pension plans.

The bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to allow a plan sponsor of an eligible multiemployer plan to petition the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for a partition of a financially-troubled pension plan. PBGC is required to establish a legacy fund to cover the administrative and benefit costs resulting from a partition..

The bill amends the federal bankruptcy code to assign first claim priority to pension obligations under ERISA.

The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) impose a limit of $1 million on the exemption of the gain from the exchange of real property in a like kind exchange, (2) prohibit the use of like kind exchanges for collectibles, (3) establish estate valuation rules for certain transfers of nonbusiness assets, and (4) limit estate tax discounts for certain individuals with minority interests in a business acquired from a decedent.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-07-14 00:00:00

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow tax-free rollovers from tax-exempt retirement plans, annuities, and deferred compensation plans into a simple individual retirement account.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2015-07-15 00:00:00

Schedules That Work Act 

Grants an employee the right to request that his or her employer change the terms and conditions of employment relating to:

 the number of hours or times the employee is required to work or be on call; the location; the amount of notification he or she receives of work schedule assignments; and minimizing fluctuations in the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Requires the employer, if the request is made, to engage in a timely, good faith interactive process with the employee that includes a discussion of potential schedule changes that would meet his or her needs. Outlines the process for either granting or denying a change.

Requires the employer to grant a request, unless there is a bona fide business reason for denying it, if the request is made because of the employee's serious health condition, his or her responsibilities as a caregiver, or enrollment in a career-related educational or training program, or if a part-time employee requests such a change for a reason related to a second job.++_

Authorizes an employer, if an employee requests a change for any other reason, to deny it for any reason that is not unlawful. Requires the employer to give the employee the reason for the denial, including whether it was a bona fide business reason.

Outlines employer requirements for paying reporting time and split shift pay and for giving advance notice of work schedules to retail, food service, or cleaning employees, or the Department of Labor's (DOL) designated employees, except for those in bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacities.

Makes it unlawful for any employer or other person to: (1) interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise or the attempt to exercise any right of an employee specified in this Act; (2) retaliate against an individual for exercising his or her rights, or (3) interfere with proceedings or inquiries with respect to violation of an individual's rights.

Sets forth administrative enforcement procedures and civil remedies for violation of these prohibitions.

Directs DOL to give information and technical assistance to employers, labor organizations, and the general public concerning compliance with this Act.

Directs DOL, acting through the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau of the Census to: (1) include in the Current Population Survey questions on, among other things, the amount of fluctuation in the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis; and (2) conduct at regular intervals the Contingent Worker Supplement, the Work Schedules and Work at Home Supplement, and other relevant supplements to the Current Population Survey.

Makes this Act inapplicable to any employee covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement if its terms govern work scheduling practices.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2015-11-17 00:00:00

Pension Accountability Act

This bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code to revise rules for voting on the suspension of pension benefits under multiemployer plans in endangered or critical status. The bill changes the voting procedure for suspending plan benefits to provide that a suspension shall go into effect unless a majority of plan participants and beneficiaries who cast a vote (currently, a majority of all plan participants and beneficiaries) reject the suspension. The bill also eliminates the authority of the Department of the Treasury, in the case of systemically important plans, to override a vote of plan participants to reject a suspension. A plan is systemically important if projected financial assistance to the plan will exceed $1 billion if suspensions are not implemented.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-11-18 00:00:00

Small Businesses Add Value for Employees Act of 2015 or the SAVE Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to employer-established simple individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and pension plans, to:

 repeal restrictions on rollovers from simple IRAs to qualified retirement plans; allow employers to elect to terminate simple IRAs at any time during the year; repeal the increased 25% penalty on premature distributions from simple IRAs within the first two plan years; allow additional nonelective employer contributions to simple IRAs not exceeding 10% of compensation; establish automatic deferral IRAs to permit the automatic enrollment of employees earning at least $5,000 in a preceding year; establish secure deferral arrangements for automatically enrolling employees at 6% of pay with annual increases; allow small employers a new tax credit for the cost of adopting safe harbor requirements for secure deferral arrangements; allow a transfer of unused benefits in a flexible spending arrangement to a qualified retirement or eligible deferred compensation plan; increase the tax credit for small employer pension plan startup costs; and establish multiple small employer retirement plans that provide for automatic employee contributions. The bill requires: (1) the Department of the Treasury to promulgate regulations regarding the timing of notices to participants in automatic contribution pension plans; (2) the Office of Financial Education of Treasury to develop and implement an outreach plan to educate small businesses on the types and benefits of available retirement plans; (3) Treasury and the Department of Labor to develop recommendations for small businesses to improve retirement outcomes; and (4) Treasury, in consultation with the Department of Education, to develop age-appropriate financial literacy curricula for elementary and secondary schools.

The bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to: (1) exempt IRAs that permit payroll deductions from additional pension plan requirements, (2) require disclosures relating to lifetime income from pension plans and annuities, and (3) set forth safe harbor criteria for the selection of an annuity contract and an insurer.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-11-19 00:00:00

Church Plan Clarification Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax treatment of church pension plans, to: (1) provide that an organization otherwise eligible to participate in a church plan shall not be aggregated with another such organization and treated as a single employer with it unless one such organization provides at least 80% of the operating funds for the other organization during the recipient organization's preceding tax year and there is a degree of common management or supervision between the organizations, (2) adopt benefit accrual limitations for church defined benefit plans established before 1982, and (3) allow transfers and mergers of qualified church retirement plans.

The bill also: (1) preempts any state law relating to wage, salary, or payroll payment, collection, deduction, garnishment, assignment, or withholding that would directly or indirectly prohibit or restrict the inclusion in any church plan of an automatic contribution arrangement; and (2) allows church plans and their supporting organizations to invest plan assets in a group trust (as defined by Internal Revenue Service Revenue Rulings).
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2015-12-10 00:00:00

Women's Pension Protection Act of 2015

This bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to: (1) extend spousal consent requirements to defined contribution pension plans, and (2) allow certain long-term part-time workers to participate in pension plans that include either a qualified cash or deferred arrangement or a salary reduction agreement.

Financial product or service providers who sell retirement financial products or services must provide purchasers of their products or services an easily accessible link to the website of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to obtain information relating to retirement planning or later life economic security.

The Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor shall award grants to certain community-based organizations to improve the financial literacy of women who are working age or in retirement.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2016-01-08 00:00:00

Volatility And Losses Undermining Earnings Act of 2016

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to waive the minimum distribution requirements for certain defined contribution pension plans or individual retirement plans during calendar year 2016.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2016-02-08 00:00:00

Making Your Retirement Accessible Act or the MyRA Act

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish an employee retirement option known as a MyRA account. A MyRA account functions as a Roth Individual Retirement Account. An employee who elects to establish a MyRA account may contribute any portion of a tax refund or make automatic payroll contributions to the account.

The funding of MyRA accounts is limited to retirement savings bonds issued by the Department of the Treasury with a specified interest rate and maturity date.

The bill imposes a tax on any employer who fails to comply with the requirement for making direct deposits to a MyRA account of wages designated by an employee.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2016-02-12 00:00:00

Expanding Employee Ownership Act of 2016

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an employee: (1) shares of employer securities received in a qualified employee stock distribution as compensation for services that do not exceed the lowest number of employer securities received by any employee in such distribution; (2) any gain on such securities if held by an employee for not less than 10 years; and (3) in the case of any qualified disposition of an employer security that meets such 10-year holding requirement, any gain on so much stock acquired during the 60-day period beginning on the date of such disposition as does not exceed the fair market value of the employer security so disposed.

Employers may claim a tax deduction for the fair market value of securities transferred in a stock distribution. Employees must recapture in gross income the amount of employer securities excluded from gross income if such securities are disposed of within five years after receipt.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2016-04-12 00:00:00

Grow Philanthropy Act of 2016

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an individual who is at least 70-1/2 years of age up to $100,000 in distributions from an individual retirement plan to a donor-advised fund.

(A donor-advised fund is a fund or account that is separately identified by reference to contributions of a donor or donors. The account is owned and controlled by a sponsoring charitable organization, while the donor retains advisory privileges with respect to the distribution and investment of funds in the account.)
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2016-04-15 00:00:00

Expanding Penalty Free Withdrawal Act of 2016 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the exceptions that permit penalty-free distributions to unemployed individuals from retirement plans.

The 10% additional tax on early distributions from retirement plans does not apply to an individual after separation from employment if: (1) the individual has received federal or state unemployment compensation for 26 consecutive weeks or, if less, the maximum period available under state law, and (2) the distributions are made during the year or the succeeding year in which the compensation is paid.

The exception is limited to the lesser of: (1) $50,000 from all plans of the individual over a one-year period, or (2) the greater of $10,000 or one-half of the fair market value of the individual's retirement plans and the nonforfeitable portion of the individual's defined contribution plans.

The exception does not apply to distributions that are: (1) included in the existing exception for distributions to unemployed individuals for health insurance premiums, or (2) are made after the individual has been employed for at least 60 days after the separation.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2016-05-06 00:00:00

Legacy IRA Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the tax exclusion for distributions from individual retirement accounts (IRAs) for charitable purposes.

The bill increases from $100,000 to $400,000 the annual limit on the aggregate amount of distributions for charitable purposes that may be excluded from the gross income of a taxpayer.

The bill permits tax-free distributions from IRAs to a split-interest entity until December 31, 2020. A split-interest entity is exclusively funded by charitable distributions and includes: a charitable remainder annuity trust, a charitable remainder unitrust, or a charitable gift annuity. A charitable gift annuity must commence fixed payments of at least 5% no later than one year from the date of funding.

A distribution to a split-interest entity may only be treated as a qualified charitable distribution if: (1) no person holds an income interest in the entity other than the individual for whose benefit the account is maintained, the spouse of such individual, or both; and (2) the income interest in the entity is nonassignable.

The bill limits the exclusion annually to: $100,000 for distributions to charitable organizations, and $400,000 for distributions to split-interest entities.

Tax-free distributions to a split-interest entity may be made when the account beneficiary attains age 65. (Under current law, the beneficiary must attain the age of 70-1/2 for IRA distributions to a charitable organization.)
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2016-05-10 00:00:00

Help All Americans Save for College Act of 2016 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the tax treatment of qualified tuition programs (known as 529 plans) and ABLE accounts. (Tax-favored ABLE [Achieving a Better Life Experience] accounts are designed to enable individuals with disabilities to save for and pay for disability-related expenses.)

The bill excludes employer contributions to an employee's 529 plan or ABLE account from the gross income of an individual, certain employment taxes, and taxes on self-employment earnings.

The exclusions are limited to the lesser of: (1) the compensation includible in the individual's gross income for the year, or (2) $5,000 ($10,000 in the case of a joint return) for each dependent of the taxpayer who is the designated beneficiary of a 529 plan.

The bill also allows an individual to deduct up to $5,000 of the aggregate contributions of the individual to a 529 plan and an ABLE account.

The bill revises the 10% additional tax for distributions from a 529 plan or an ABLE account that are not used for qualified purposes to change the rate to the greater of: (1) 10%, or (2) the highest rate of income tax applicable to the taxpayer.
Topic: Labor — Employee Benefits
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2016-06-10 00:00:00

American Savings Account Act of 2016 

This bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to establish a new retirement option for all employees and self-employed individuals to be known as the American Savings Account Fund. This fund operates in a manner similar to the Thrift Savings Fund, which is available to federal employees.

The bill establishes an American Savings Account Board of Directors to establish policies for fund investment and management. The board shall select or establish a list of investment funds and options similar to those in the Thrift Savings Fund, among which participants may choose.

The board shall establish an American Savings Account Fund Advisory Council to advise the board on matters relating to investment policies.

The American Savings Account Fund is tax-exempt and contributions to, or distributions from, it are excludible from gross income.