2012 US Code
Title 29 - Labor
Chapter 18 - EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY PROGRAM (§§ 1001 - 1461)
Subchapter I - PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RIGHTS (§§ 1001 - 1191c)
Subtitle A - General Provisions (§§ 1001 - 1003)
Section 1001a - Additional Congressional findings and declaration of policy

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.

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.

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,

(3) to provide reasonable protection for the interests of participants and beneficiaries of financially distressed multiemployer pension plans, and

(4) to provide a financially self-sufficient program for the guarantee of employee benefits under multiemployer plans.

(Pub. L. 96–364, §3, Sept. 26, 1980, 94 Stat. 1209.)

This Act, referred to in subsec. (c), is Pub. L. 96–364, Sept. 26, 1980, 94 Stat. 1208, known as the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1980 Amendment note set out under section 1001 of this title and Tables.

Section was enacted as part of the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980, and not as part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 which comprises this chapter.

Section effective Sept. 26, 1980, see section 1461(e)(1) of this title.

Pub. L. 96–364, title IV, §412(b), Sept. 26, 1980, 94 Stat. 1309, directed Secretary of Labor to study feasibility of requiring collective bargaining on both issues of contributions to, and benefits from, multiemployer plans, and submit a report on the study to Congress within 3 years of Sept. 26, 1980.