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

Welcome to May! The PBGC has now been implementing the ARPA legislation since July 2021. Great strides have been made since Local 138 Pension Trust Fund received the first approval for the SFA grant ($112.6 million) on December 21, 2021. The grant proceeds were ultimately awarded on January 14, 2022. There have been another 71 funds to receive approval for their SFA applications ($53.8 billion in SFA) with another 129 currently awaiting action on their applications. Thats a huge effort to-date and a greater one to come.

That said, there must have been a big celebration at the PBGC for Cinco de Mayo this past weekend, as there were no new applications received, denied, approved, withdrawn, or excess proceeds repaid during the previous week. Furthermore, there were no pension systems looking to be added to the waitlist, which currently has 108 systems seeking approval from the original 114 on the list. Of course I’m being facetious about the PBGC’s celebration as they have already accomplished a lot, but there remains a ton to do before the legislation reaches its termination date.

I am attending and speaking at the IFEBP’s legislative conference in Washington DC beginning today, and I hope to gather some intel on anything related to ARPA’s pension reform and future actions. I’ll report back on any interesting tidbits. Have a great week.