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Portman’s Bill Would Give Participants Greater Voice

If Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has his way, workers and retirees would have more say when a multiemployer pension plan faces bankruptcy and major reforms to the plan are on the table. Portman on Oct. 7 introduced the Pension Accountability Act.

The bill would amend the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 in the following ways:

  • for struggling pension plans seeking cuts, it would make the participant vote binding in all situations;

  • it would require that a majority of the participants must vote in favor of pension cuts for any to occur; and

  • when a vote takes place, only ballots that are returned would be counted, and unreturned ballots would no longer be counted as a “yes” vote.

“This will give the workers and retirees a seat at the table to influence the solvency reforms,” noted a press release from Portman’s office.