Opinion ID: 2967491
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: First, to the signatory operator which—

Text: (A) was a signatory to the 1978 coal wage agreement or any subsequent coal wage agreement, and (B) was the most recent signatory operator to employ the coal industry retiree in the coal industry for at least 2 years. (2) Second, if the retiree is not assigned under paragraph (1), to the signatory operator which— (A) was a signatory to the 1978 coal wage agreement or any subsequent coal wage agreement, and (B) was the most recent signatory operator to employ the coal industry retiree in the coal industry. HOLLAND v. PARDEE COAL COMPANY 7 The Act also provided financing for the health care benefits of orphaned retirees, those retired miners whose employers had gone out of business and could not be assigned to any other party under the criteria set forth in 26 U.S.C. § 9706. To subsidize the health care costs of such unassigned beneficiaries, Congress authorized substantial contributions to the Combined Fund from the UMWA 1950 Pension Plan and from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund (AML Fund), established under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. See 26 U.S.C. § 9705; 30 U.S.C. § 1231. Specifically, on the first day of each of the Combined Fund’s first three plan years, a $70 million transfer was to be made from the UMWA 1950 Pension Plan to the Combined Fund. See 26 U.S.C. § 9705(a). Thereafter, for the plan years beginning on and after October 1, 1995, Congress provided for annual transfers to the Combined Fund of up to $70 million in interest earned by the AML Fund; such transfers are solely dedicated to paying the health care premiums of unassigned beneficiaries. See 30 U.S.C. § 1232(h). To the extent that such transfers are inadequate to cover the expenditures on behalf of unassigned beneficiaries, the Act provides for the excess costs to be borne by assigned operators, according to their proportionate share of the assigned beneficiaries. See 26 U.S.C. §§ 9704(a)(3), 9704(d), & 9705(b)(2). To date, however, the transfers have proven sufficient, and assigned coal operators have been spared any responsibility for the premiums of unassigned beneficiaries.