Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 94 Part 1.djvu/1259

 PUBLIC LAW 96-364—SEPT. 26, 1980

94 STAT. 1209

Sec. 304. Minimum funding requirements. Sec. 305. Application of interested party rules to withdrawal liability payment funds. Sec. 306. Liquidated damages with respect to delinquent contributions. Sec. 307. Actuarial standards. Sec. 308. Exemptions from prohibited transactions. Sec. 309. Fiduciary duties. Sec. 310. Refund of certain withdrawal liability payments. TITLE IV-MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec.

40L Amendment of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. 402. Related technical amendments. 403. Conforming amendments. 404. Clerical amendments. 405. Action taken before regulations are prescribed. 406. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation put on budget. 407. Church plans. 408. Deductibility of payments to plan by a corporation operating public transportation system acquired by a State. Sec. 409. Treatment of certain severance pay arrangements and supplemental retirement income payments as welfare plans. Sec. 410. Refund of mistaken contributions. Sec. 411. Definition of employee pension benefit plan. Sec. 412. Studies by Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and Secretary of Labor. Sec. 413. Study by General Accounting Office; hearings required. Sec. 414. Treatment of certain retirement benefits. Sec. 415. Increase in length of service in Armed Forces required for ex-servicemen to be eligible for unemployment benefits. Sec. 416. Cessation of extended benefits when paid under an interstate plan in a State where extended benefit period is not in effect. SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF POLICY. 29 USC 1001a.

(a) The Congress finds that— (1) multiemployer pension plans have a substantial impact on interstate commerce and are affected with a national public interest; (2) multiemployer pension plans have accounted for a substantial portion of the increase in private pension plan coverage over the past three decades; (3) the continued well-being and security of millions of employees, retirees, and their dependents are directly affected by multiemployer pension plans; and (4)(A) withdrawals of contributing employers from a multiemployer pension plan frequently result in substantially increased funding obligations for employers who continue to contribute to the plan, adversely affecting the plan, its participants and beneficiaries, and labor-management relations, and (B) in a declining industry, the incidence of employer withdrawals is higher and the adverse effects described in subparagraph (A) are exacerbated. (b) The Congress further finds that— (1) it is desirable to modify the current multiemployer plan termination insurance provisions in order to increase the likelihood of protecting plan participants against benefit losses; and (2) it is desirable to replace the termination insurance program for multiemployer pension plans with an insolvency-based benefit protection program that will enhance the financial soundness of such plans, place primary emphasis on plan continuation, and contain program costs within reasonable limits. (c) It is hereby declared to be the policy of this Act— (1) to foster and facilitate interstate commerce, (2) to alleviate certain problems which tend to discourage the maintenance and growth of multiemployer pension plans,

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