Compliance March 17, 2010

House Passes up Pension Funding Relief

March 17, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Pension plan funding relief provisions have been left out of a jobs bill approved by the House Ways and Means Committee.

Reported by

Rebecca Moore

Sources told Business Insurance that a draft version of H.R. 4849 reserved a section for pension funding relief, with details to come later; however, panel Democrats could not agree on conditions on employers accepting the relief. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin (D-Michigan) decided to move the bill without the funding relief provisions, according to the news report.

Last week the U.S. Senate passed legislation that would allow defined benefit pension plan sponsors to spread out funding their shortfalls in exchange for certain restrictions on employee compensation and employer stock dividends (see Senate Passes Pension Funding Relief).