House Passes Bill Benefiting Co-op Pensions

On May 23, 2019, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1994 – Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE) of 2019. The bill contains a provision that will lower the premiums that electric cooperatives in the Retirement Security (RS) Plan pay to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). The SECURE Act also includes “nondiscrimination testing” relief for co-ops offering a defined benefit plan that is “closed” to new employees, but continues to provide benefits to certain employees. The bill includes conditions that co-ops will be required to meet in order to be eligible for the updated testing rules.

The Senate is expected to vote soon on similar legislation – the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act of 2019.

Read more about this legislative advancement in NRECA’s press release. As additional information becomes available about the Senate legislation, we will make that update available to you through NRECA’s news outlets.