By: Russ Kamp, Managing Director, Ryan ALM, Inc.

Before getting into the most recent update regarding the ARPA legislation, I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice to defend our nation. God Bless you and your families.

Activity surrounding ARPA/SFA was fairly modest last week following several weeks of intense activity. There were no new applications filed or approved. Fortunately, there were none that were denied. However, there were two plans New York State Teamsters Conference Pension and Retirement Fund and Freight Drivers and Helpers Local Union No. 557 Pension Plan, both Priority Group 2 members, which withdrew their applications. The NYS Teamsters had filed their initial application on 1/28/22, so they were within days of getting their application acted on, while the Freight Drivers submitted their application on March 4, 2022. There have been dozens of applications withdrawn to date, but in every case, a new application was submitted. It shouldn’t be long until we see new applications filed on behalf of these two plans that represent just under 36,000 plan participants.

As we reported last week, the PBGC has sent its Final, Final Rules to the OMB and it shouldn’t be too much longer before we get the update that everyone has been waiting for since the Interim Final Rules were announced last July. Have a great week, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions/comments.