2021-01741. Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment Request; Disclosure of Termination Information

AGENCY:

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION:

Notice of request for extension of OMB approval.

SUMMARY:

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of a collection of information on the disclosure of termination information under its regulations for distress terminations and for PBGC-initiated terminations. This notice informs the public of PBGC's intent and solicits public comment on the collection of information.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted on or before February 26, 2021.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to https://www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function.

A copy of the request will be posted on PBGC's website at https://www.pbgc.gov/​prac/​laws-and-regulation/​federal-register-notices-open-for-comment. It may also be obtained by writing to Disclosure Division, Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005-4026, or calling 202-326-4040 during normal business hours. TTY users may call the Federal Relay Service toll-free at 800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-4040.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Melissa Rifkin ([e-mail]), Attorney, Regulatory Affairs Division, Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005-4026; 202-229-6563. (TTY users may call the Federal Relay Service toll-free at 800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-229-6563.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Sections 4041 and 4042 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. 1301-1461, govern the termination of single-employer defined benefit pension plans that are subject to Title IV of ERISA. A plan administrator may initiate a distress termination pursuant to section 4041(c), and PBGC may itself initiate proceedings to terminate a pension plan under section 4042 if PBGC determines that certain conditions are present. Section 506 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 amended sections 4041 and 4042 of ERISA. These amendments require that, upon a request by an affected party, a plan administrator must disclose information it has submitted to PBGC in connection with a distress termination filing, and that a plan administrator or plan sponsor must disclose information it has submitted to PBGC in connection with a PBGC-initiated termination. The provisions also require PBGC to disclose the administrative record relating to a PBGC-initiated termination upon request by an affected party.

The collection of information has been approved by OMB under control number 1212-0065 (expires March 31, 2021). On November 16, 2020, PBGC published in the Federal Register (at 85 FR 73090) a notice informing the public of its intent to request an extension of this collection of information without modification. PBGC did not receive any comments in response. PBGC is requesting that OMB extend its approval for another three years. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

PBGC estimates that approximately 70 plans will terminate as distress or PBGC-initiated terminations each year. PBGC further estimates that two participants or other affected parties of every nine distress terminations or PBGC-initiated terminations filed will annually make requests for termination information, or 2/9 of 70 (approximately 16 plans per year). PBGC estimates that the hour burden for each request will be about 20 hours. The total annual hour burden is estimated to be 320 hours (16 plans × 20 hours). PBGC expects that the staff of plan administrators and sponsors will perform the work in-house and that no work will be contracted to third parties. Therefore, the annual cost burden is estimated to be $0.

Issued in Washington, DC.

Hilary Duke,

Assistant General Counsel for Regulatory Affairs, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.