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

Welcome to the last week of August. How did that happen? We wish for you a wonderful and safe Labor Day Weekend, especially for those families depositing children back at schools scattered throughout the US.

With regard to the implementation of the ARPA legislation, two more plans filed applications with the PBGC seeking Special Financial Assistance (SFA). Those plans include United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Participating Food Industry Employers Tri-State Pension Plan, a Priority Group 6 member and the
Pressroom Unions’ Pension Plan, a non-Priority plan. Both have submitted revised applications. In the case of the UFCW plan, they are seeking $638.1 million for its more than 29K members, while the Pressman are seeking $59.2 million for its 1,344 participants.

In other ARPA news, three pension plans, including Idaho Signatory Employers-Laborers Pension Plan, Local Union No. 466 Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers Pension Plan, and United Independent Union – Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia Pension Plan have agreed to repay the excess SFA received as a result of census errors, which amounted to $681,669.11 or 0.21% of the SFA grants.

There were no applications approved or denied during the week, and there were no applications withdrawn. Finally, there were no additional multiemployer pension plans seeking to be added to the waitlist, which currently stands at 69 applications that haven’t been submitted at this point.

Falling US rates would ordinarily help those plans seeking SFA as the lower discount rate inflates the present value of those liabilities. However, only a few of the applicants on the waiting list haven’t locked in the rate at this time. For those plans that have recently received grants or those that are hoping to have applications approved, the lower rate environment works against them in their pursuit to secure the promised benefits as far into the future as the allocation will go.