Boustany: Legislation Will Safeguard Benefits for Workers, Retirees

Lafayette, LA – U.S. Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr. today praised the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which was signed into law by the president today, as good news for America’s workers and retirees.   

“Workers in Southwest Louisiana deserve to know that the pensions they’ve been promised will be there for them when they retire,” said Boustany.  “The legislation signed by the president today is the most sweeping reform of our nation’s pension laws in thirty years.  Most importantly, it holds companies accountable for the promises they make to their employees.”

H.R. 4, the Pension Protection Act of 2006, takes a balanced approach to comprehensive pension reform.  Specifically, the act does the following:

• Tightens funding requirements so that companies are making more cash contributions to their worker pension funds;
• Requires employers to make up current funding shortfalls within seven years;
• Identifies underfunded plans and establishes benchmarks for measuring funding improvements;
• Enhances disclosure requirements so that workers and retirees can get more information about the status of their pension plan;
• Restricts “golden parachute” executive compensation arrangements in which executives of companies in financial difficulty are given generous compensation arrangements while the retirement security of rank-and-file workers remains at risk;
• Encourages employers to automatically enroll employees in defined contribution pension plans, while giving employees the option of declining the plans; and
• Gives workers new access to face-to-face, personally tailored professional investment advice.

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