For Immediate Release
Contact: Hillary Crowder, 703-351-2086, [email protected]
Arlington, Va. (March 25, 2014) – Shirley Bloomfield, chief executive officer of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, applauded the passage of the Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act of 2014. The U.S House of Representatives passed H.R. 4275, led by Reps. Susan Brooks (R–Ind.) and Ron Kind (D–Wis.), March 24. Identical legislation, led by Sens. Tom Harkin (D–Iowa) and Pat Roberts (R–Kan.), was unanimously passed in the Senate on January 28.
“I applaud Congress for passing the bipartisan Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act of 2014, which will secure permanent relief for multiple-employer pension plans like NTCA’s Retirement & Security Program from the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and its funding requirements that Congress designed for other types of pension plans,” Bloomfield said.
“This legislation will allow our pension program to continue to provide retirement benefits to our rural members without being subject to the rules that require funding at a level that would necessitate hundreds of millions of dollars in unwarranted increased pension costs and impede rural communications employers from being able to continue to offer this retirement benefit to their employees. We urge President Barack Obama to sign the legislation and help secure pensions for our employees and members for years to come.”
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NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association is the premier association representing nearly 900 independent, community-based telecommunications companies that are leading innovation in rural and small-town America. NTCA advocates on behalf of its members in the legislative and regulatory arenas, and it provides training and development; publications and industry events; and an array of employee benefit programs. In an era of exploding technology, deregulation and marketplace competition, NTCA’s members are leading the IP evolution for rural consumers, delivering technologies that make rural communities vibrant places in which to live and do business. Because of their efforts, rural America is fertile ground for innovation in economic development and commerce, education, health care, government services, security and smart energy use. Visit us at www.ntca.org.