The Senate is currently considering the latest COVID relief bill, which includes a new round of multiemployer pension relief. The bill would create a Special Financial Assistance Program for struggling multiemployer pension plans. Under the Special Financial Assistance Program eligible plans include critical and declining plans, some critical plans and a few endangered plans would receive a one-time lump sum payment that is equal to the amount of funding needed to pay benefits through 2051 (30 years). The proposal does not include any concept of repayment for this assistance.
Starting in 2031 the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation premiums would be increased for all plans to $52/year and indexed inflation every year after. Under current law PPGC premiums are forecasted to be about $43 in 2031 because of indexing. For a fact sheet on the pension provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act click here.
AGC is disappointed in the lack of structural reforms in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 because it has long advocated for a comprehensive solution to the multiemployer pension crisis with reforms to protect the system and taxpayers, including the authorization of a new plan design, composite plans, to provide additional safeguards and flexibility to plan sponsors. AGC will continue to advocate for advancing responsible, sustainable, and permanent solutions to the nation’s retirement crisis in the near future.