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West Virginia Appropriations Requests
December 15, 2008
ROCKFELLER APPLAUDS SENATE PASSAGE OF BILL TO STRENGTHEN AND PROTECT PENSION PLANS
~President Expected to Sign Bill Into Law that Helps Bolster West Virginia Retirees' Savings During Recession~
Washington, DC -- Senator Jay Rockefeller applauded the U.S. Senate’s passage of legislation aimed at providing relief to West Virginia workers and their pension plans during the recession.
“West Virginians work hard their whole lives and with every up and down in the stock market people are watching their lifesavings drop. I believe we need to do everything possible to protect working families from losing the money that they saved. This bill will provide real relief to individuals and businesses that need it the most,” Rockefeller said.
The Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act passed last week includes important modifications to pension distribution requirements for West Virginia seniors that will help ease financial strain in a lagging economy. Among the provisions is a measure to provide relief for seniors aged 70 and 1/2 or older who are required to take distributions from their retirement plans under current law. The provision would allow savings to temporarily stay put and avoid a tax hit for seniors when the market is down.
Another measure gives multi-employer pension plans that were hurt by the decline in the stock market the ability to avoid drastic contribution increases and cutbacks in worker benefits.
Additional provisions in the bill will allow single-employer pension plans to account for expected earnings in addition to contributions and distributions when determining the value of the plan’s assets. Certain single-employer pension plans that fall below the set target funding percentage for a particular year (e.g., 92 percent in 2008), will be required to fund up to the specified funding percentage for that year, instead of 100 percent.
President Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law soon.
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