The Intersector group released the notes of its March 2019 meeting with the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service.

The Multiemployer Plans Committee submitted comments to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) regarding simplified methods and other aspects of computing withdrawal liability under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014.

The Academy responded in writing to questions from the House Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions as a follow-up to the panel’s March 7 hearing, “The Cost of Inaction: Why Congress Must Address the Multiemployer Pension Crisis,” at which Josh Shapiro, the Academy’s vice president, pension, testified.

Academy Pension Vice President Josh Shapiro testified March 7 before the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, providing written and oral testimony with a nonpartisan, objective, actuarial focus on the increasing financial risks facing some multiemployer plans and the PBGC’s multiemployer program.

The Pension Practice Council published a practice note providing information on current and emerging practices in the selection of investment return assumptions based on anticipated future experience. 

The Pension Committee published a practice note discussing the valuation of lump sum benefits for financial accounting purposes. 

The Lifetime Income Risk Joint Committee, Retirement System Assessment and Policy Committee and Social Security Committee submitted a comment letter to the Bipartisan Policy Center on its 2016 Report of the Commission on Retirement Security and Personal Savings.

Academy Pension Vice President Josh Shapiro submitted a comment letter to U.S. House leaders on The Retirement, Savings, and Other Tax Relief Act of 2018.

The Intersector group released the notes of its April 2018 meeting with the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service. 

The Retirement System Assessment and Policy Committee submitted a comment letter to Congress on the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act of 2018. 

The Multiemployer Plans Committee submitted a follow-up letter to the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans on key topics discussed during a June 22 meeting regarding loan proposals and other solutions for troubled multiemployer pension plans.

The Intersector Group released an Academy Alert highlighting time-sensitive information in advance of the publication of the notes from its April 4 meetings with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Intersector Group has chosen to release the following information now due to the time-sensitive nature for plan sponsors who are considering making contributions to defined benefit (DB) plans on Sept. 15. The full minutes of the group’s meeting with the IRS and Treasury will be published in the near future.

Ted Goldman, the Academy's Senior Pension Fellow, testified before the U.S. Department of Labor's Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans at a hearing on "Lifetime Income Solutions as a Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA) - Focus on Decumulaion and Rollovers." Read Goldman's testimony and presentation slides.

The Multiemployer Plans Committee released notes from its meeting on Feb. 23, 2018 with officials of the Treasury and Labor departments, and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to discuss applications by multiemployer pension plans in critical and declining status to suspend benefits or partition liabilities. This meeting supplements the first meeting between these parties on this topic, which was held on Feb. 22, 2017.

The Pension Committee, the Public Plans Committee, and the Multiemployer Committee submitted a comment letter to the ASB on exposure drafts of proposed revisions to ASOPs 4, 27, and 35.

The Lifetime Income Risk Joint Task Force submitted a comment letter to Congress on the Lifetime Income Disclosure Act.