For Immediate Release
Contact: Carolyn Just, 703-351-2015, [email protected]
Arlington, Va., (May 23, 2019) – NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association issued the following statement regarding the House vote to pass H.R. 1994 - The SECURE Act “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019”.
“NTCA thanks the leadership of the House Ways & Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA), Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX), Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Mike Kelly (R-PA) for their leadership in the passage of the SECURE Act of 2019. Since 1959, NTCA has sponsored a defined benefit plan that provides retirement benefits to more than 16,000 employees and retirees associated with small businesses committed to providing advanced communications services in rural America.
In 2014, Congress recognized Cooperative and Small Employer Charity (CSEC) pension plans as posing a low risk to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). While current law allows the PBGC to assess high insurance premiums to CSEC plans, scarce resources are being diverted from rural broadband employers that provide a defined benefit retirement plan to their workforce. As CSEC plan participants, the passing of this bill will better enable NTCA members to continue to provide robust pension services to their employees in the rural communities they serve.”
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