The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is proposing new oversight rules for multiemployer pension plans that have received federal emergency assistance, requiring them to submit detailed investment and management documents and provide data on missing beneficiaries.
Plans receiving special financial assistance would need to submit investment policy statements, investment guidelines, asset allocation policies, committee charters, and other governing documents related to asset management. The PBGC said the documents would help it verify that funds are managed responsibly and used to pay earned pension benefits.
The proposal also requires plans to report on participants who may have lost contact with the plan and describe the procedures used to locate them. The goal is to help ensure retirees and beneficiaries receive their earned benefits.
The special financial assistance program was established in 2021 to provide funding to financially troubled multiemployer pension plans. Upon approval of an application, the PBGC makes a lump-sum payment intended to enable a plan to pay full benefits through 2051. The program is funded by U.S. Treasury appropriations.
The proposed changes are published in the Federal Register and open for public comment through December 15, 2026.