Chapter 25, Subchapter IV, Section 1232, Subsection (h) · 30 U.S.C. Chapter 25 — SURFACE MINING CONTROL AND RECLAMATION

Contents

(h)

(1)

(A)As soon as practicable after the beginning of fiscal year 2007 and each fiscal year thereafter, and before making any allocation with respect to the fiscal year under subsection (g), the Secretary shall use an amount not to exceed the amount of interest that the Secretary estimates will be earned and paid to the fund during the fiscal year to transfer to the Combined Benefit Fund such amounts as are estimated by the trustees of such fund to offset the amount of any deficit in net assets in the Combined Benefit Fund as of October 1, 2006, and to make the transfer described in paragraph (2)(A).

(B)As soon as practicable after the beginning of fiscal year 2008 and each fiscal year thereafter, and before making any allocation with respect to the fiscal year under subsection (g), the Secretary shall use an amount not to exceed the amount of interest that the Secretary estimates will be earned and paid to the fund during the fiscal year (reduced by the amount used under subparagraph (A)) to make the transfers described in paragraphs (2)(B) and (2)(C).

(2)The transfers referred to in paragraph (1) are the following:

(A)A transfer to the United Mine Workers of America Combined Benefit Fund equal to the amount that the trustees of the Combined Benefit Fund estimate will be expended from the fund for the fiscal year in which the transfer is made, reduced by—

(i)the amount the trustees of the Combined Benefit Fund estimate the Combined Benefit Fund will receive during the fiscal year in—

(I)required premiums; and

(II)payments paid by Federal agencies in connection with benefits provided by the Combined Benefit Fund; and

(ii)the amount the trustees of the Combined Benefit Fund estimate will be expended during the fiscal year to provide health benefits to beneficiaries who are unassigned beneficiaries solely as a result of the application of section 9706(h)(1) of title 26, but only to the extent that such amount does not exceed the amounts described in subsection (i)(1)(A) that the Secretary estimates will be available to pay such estimated expenditures.

(B)A transfer to the United Mine Workers of America 1992 Benefit Plan, in an amount equal to the difference between—

(i)the amount that the trustees of the 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan estimate will be expended from the 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan during the next calendar year to provide the benefits required by the 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan on December 20, 2006; minus

(ii)the amount that the trustees of the 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan estimate the 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan will receive during the next calendar year in—

(I)required monthly per beneficiary premiums, including the amount of any security provided to the 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan that is available for use in the provision of benefits; and

(II)payments paid by Federal agencies in connection with benefits provided by the 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan.

(C)

(i)A transfer to the Multiemployer Health Benefit Plan established after July 20, 1992, by the parties that are the settlors of the 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan referred to in subparagraph (B) (referred to in this subparagraph and subparagraph (D) as “the Plan”), in an amount equal to the excess (if any) of—

(I)the amount that the trustees of the Plan estimate will be expended from the Plan during the next calendar year, to provide benefits no greater than those provided by the Plan as of December 31, 2006; over

(II)the amount that the trustees estimated the Plan will receive during the next calendar year in payments paid by Federal agencies in connection with benefits provided by the Plan.

(ii)The excess determined under clause (i) shall be calculated by taking into account only—

(I)those beneficiaries actually enrolled in the Plan as of December 27, 2020, who are eligible to receive health benefits under the Plan on the first day of the calendar year for which the transfer is made, other than those beneficiaries enrolled in the Plan under the terms of a participation agreement with the current or former employer of such beneficiaries;

(II)those beneficiaries whose health benefits, defined as those benefits payable, following death or retirement or upon a finding of disability, directly by an employer in the bituminous coal industry under a coal wage agreement (as defined in section 9701(b)(1) of title 26) or a related coal wage agreement, would be denied or reduced as a result of a bankruptcy proceeding commenced in 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019, or any year thereafter,1 (or, in the case of any such health benefits confirmed in any bankruptcy proceeding, would be subsequently denied or reduced); and

(III)the cost of administering the resolution of disputes process administered (as of December 27, 2020) by the Trustees of the Plan.

(iii)Individuals referred to in clause (ii)(II) shall be treated as eligible to receive health benefits under the Plan.

(iv)The amount of the transfer otherwise determined under this subparagraph for a fiscal year shall be reduced by any amount transferred for the fiscal year to the Plan, to pay benefits required under the Plan, from a voluntary employees’ beneficiary association established as a result of a bankruptcy proceeding described in clause (ii).

(v)The administrator of such voluntary employees’ beneficiary association shall transfer to the Plan any amounts received as a result of such bankruptcy proceeding, reduced by an amount for administrative costs of such association.

(vi)For purposes of clause (ii), the term “related coal wage agreement” means an agreement between the United Mine Workers of America and an employer in the bituminous coal industry that—

(I)is a signatory operator; or

(II)is or was a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding that was consolidated, administratively or otherwise, with the bankruptcy proceeding of a signatory operator or a related person to a signatory operator (as those terms are defined in section 9701(c) of title 26).

For purposes of subclause (I), a beneficiary enrolled in the Plan as of December 27, 2020, shall be deemed to have been eligible to receive health benefits under the Plan on January 1, 2020.

(D)For purposes of subparagraph (C), any individual who was eligible to receive benefits from the Plan as of December 20, 2006, even though benefits were being provided to the individual pursuant to a settlement agreement approved by order of a bankruptcy court entered on or before September 30, 2004, will be considered to be actually enrolled in the Plan and shall receive benefits from the Plan beginning on December 31, 2006.

(3)If, for any fiscal year, the amount of a transfer under subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (2) is more or less than the amount required to be transferred under that subparagraph, the Secretary shall appropriately adjust the amount transferred under that subparagraph for the next fiscal year.

(4)

(A)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any interest credited to the fund that has not previously been transferred to the Combined Benefit Fund referred to in paragraph (2)(A) under this section—

(i)shall be held in reserve by the Secretary until such time as necessary to make the payments under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (i)(1), as described in clause (ii); and

(ii)in the event that the amounts described in subsection (i)(1) are insufficient to make the maximum payments described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (i)(1), shall be used by the Secretary to supplement the payments so that the maximum amount permitted under those paragraphs is paid.

(B)All amounts allocated under subsection (g)(2) before December 20, 2006, for the program described in section 1236 of this title, but not appropriated before December 20, 2006, shall be available to the Secretary to make the transfers described in paragraph (2).

(C)The Secretary shall—

(i)consult with the trustees of the plans described in paragraph (2) at reasonable intervals; and

(ii)notify Congress if a determination is made that the amounts held in reserve under subparagraph (A) are insufficient to meet future requirements under subparagraph (A)(ii).

(D)In addition to amounts held in reserve under subparagraph (A), there is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for transfer to the fund to carry out the purposes of subparagraph (A)(ii).

(E)The limitation described in subsection (i)(3)(A) shall not apply to payments made from the reserve fund under this paragraph.

(5)

(A)The Secretary may make transfers under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (2) for a calendar year only if the Secretary determines, using actuarial projections provided by the trustees of the Combined Benefit Fund referred to in paragraph (2)(A), that amounts will be available under paragraph (1), after the transfer, for the next fiscal year for making the transfer under paragraph (2)(A).

(B)

(i)

(I)A transfer under paragraph (2)(C) shall not be made for a calendar year unless the persons that are obligated to contribute to the plan referred to in paragraph (2)(C) on the date of the transfer are obligated to make the contributions at rates that are no less than those in effect on the date which is 30 days before December 20, 2006.

(II)The contributions described in subclause (I) shall be applied first to the provision of benefits to those plan beneficiaries who are not described in paragraph (2)(C)(ii).

(ii)

(I)From December 20, 2006, through December 31, 2010, the persons that, on December 20, 2006, are obligated to contribute to the plan referred to in paragraph (2)(C) shall be obligated, collectively, to make contributions equal to the amount described in paragraph (2)(C), less the amount actually transferred due to the operation of subparagraph (C).

(II)Calendar year 2006 is the first calendar year for which contributions are required under this clause.

(III)Except as provided in subclause (IV), the amount described in paragraph (2)(C) for calendar year 2006 shall be calculated as if paragraph (2)(C) had been in effect during 2005.

(IV)The contributions required under this clause for calendar year 2006 shall not exceed the amount necessary for solvency of the plan described in paragraph (2)(C), measured as of December 31, 2006, and taking into account all assets held by the plan as of that date.

(iii)The collective annual contribution obligation required under clause (ii) shall be divided among the persons subject to the obligation, and applied uniformly, based on the hours worked for which contributions referred to in clause (i) would be owed.

(C)For each of calendar years 2008 through 2010, the transfers required under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (2) shall equal the following amounts:

(i)For calendar year 2008, the Secretary shall make transfers equal to 25 percent of the amounts that would otherwise be required under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (2).

(ii)For calendar year 2009, the Secretary shall make transfers equal to 50 percent of the amounts that would otherwise be required under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (2).

(iii)For calendar year 2010, the Secretary shall make transfers equal to 75 percent of the amounts that would otherwise be required under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (2).

United States Government work; public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105.