A recent article in FreightWaves discusses the filing of legislation by Congressman Richard Neal (D, MA).  The legislation know as the Rehabilitation of Multiemployer Pensions Act was first filed by Congressman Neal in 2017, but didn’t get the necessary support from the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans.

According to John Murphy, Teamsters Union Vice President, “it’s a different world in this Congress with the Democrats now the majority party in the House.” Mr. Murphy is pleased to see a more bi-partisan effort to support this version of the Bill, as support has come equally from both Democrats and Republicans.

According to the article, the new legislation is similar to what was filed in 2017, but the new language was not available for comparison purposes. In the original Bill, a new agency, the Pension Rehabilitation Administration (PRA), was to be established for purpose of providing loans to multiemployer plans deemed to be in Critical and Declining status.  There were 114 plans with this designation in 2017, but regrettably, this universe continues to expand. Doing nothing is not an option anymore.  There are too many American workers/retirees who will suffer both social and economic consequences from the failure to act now.

We will continue to provide updates on this important legislation as more information becomes available. Please reach out to your representative in Washington to encourage their support of this critical legislation.