U.S. Senate Unanimously Passes Legislation to Protect NRECA’s RS Plan

There’s still work ahead, as the bill moves to the U.S. House of Representatives for final passage.

The efforts of electric cooperatives and other like-minded cooperative and charity sponsors of “multiple-employer” pension plans like ours have been successful. Yesterday, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act, S. 1302. The legislation was led by Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) with 51 bipartisan Senate co-sponsors.  It eliminates the Deficit Reduction Contribution for NRECA’s Retirement Security (RS) Plan, and makes our Pension Protection Act (PPA) exemption permanent.  Without this bipartisan legislation, our RS Plan could see unnecessary cost increases and/or more volatility in employer minimum contributions.

The bill now goes to the U.S. House of Representatives, where it could be considered as a free-standing bill as it was in the Senate, or incorporated into a larger package of bills. NRECA will continue its full court press on this legislation and will keep you updated.