Pension Legislation Overview in Less than 3 Minutes!

The new pension law provides greater stability and predictability for ongoing employer contributions.

The Cooperative and Small Employer Charity (CSEC) Pension Flexibility Act (P.L. 113-97) became law on April 7, 2014. The law ensures electric cooperatives will continue to be able to provide quality pension benefits to their employees through the NRECA-sponsored Retirement Security (RS) Plan with funding rules that reflect the unique design of their plans.

This new video highlights the key points of the law and the legislative process in less than 3 minutes.

The bill exempts the RS Plan from both the deficit reduction contribution requirements and potentially costly provisions of the Pension Protection Act (PPA), thereby reducing the cost pressure on participating co-ops by preventing possibly dramatic cost increases and providing greater stability and predictability for ongoing employer contributions.

The good news for today’s RS Plan participants is that every penny of their accrued pension benefits remains in place under federal law. The new law simply reduces future funding volatility for the RS Plan that would have occurred upon the expiration of the temporary exemption to the PPA that was set to expire in 2017, allowing co-ops to fund their plans in a reasonable long-term manner.

Visit this link for CSEC talking points and answers to your frequently asked questions. If you have additional questions about the bill or your co-op’s RS Plan benefit, contact your field representative. You also can contact the Member Contact Center at 1.866.673.2299 or contactcenter@nreca.coop.