On March 11 President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Included in this legislation are several provisions that provide temporary funding relief to multiemployer pension plans, as well as a significant amount of special financial assistance that is available to seriously underfunded plans. The temporary funding relief provisions are broadly available to multiemployer plans, and they allow additional time for plan sponsors to address the investment and other losses incurred in recent years. Significantly underfunded plans can demonstrate eligibility for the special financial assistance based on their funded position in 2020, 2021, or 2022, and initial applications for assistance are due by the end of 2025. Financial assistance will be paid to eligible plans as lump sums that do not need to be repaid, and is intended to keep plans solvent through 2051.
The panelists on this webinar will discuss the development and passage of the legislation, the key funding relief and financial assistance provisions, and the various aspects of the legislation that are not fully clear and may be open to multiple interpretations. The panelists include:
- Mariah Becker, National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans
- Michael Kreps, Groom Law Group
- David Pazamickas, Horizon Actuarial
- Jason Russell, Segal Consulting
- Brigen Winters, Groom Law Group
