SENATE RESOLUTION 74

(By Senators Prezioso, Baldwin, Beach, Facemire, Hamilton, Hardesty, Ihlenfeld, Jeffries, Lindsay, Palumbo, Pitsenbarger, Plymale, Roberts, Romano, Smith, Stollings, Sypolt, Unger, Woelfel, and Cline)

[Introduced March 7, 2020]

Urging the United States Senate to support the Stop Looting American Pensions Act, as introduced on October 30, 2019.

Whereas, 10.6 million hardworking men and women put a portion of their paycheck into a pension account every pay period with the expectation that it will be there when they retire; and

Whereas, These men and women have contributed to their local, state, and federal economies for the years that they have worked; and

Whereas, These same men and women will rely on their pensions after retirement to continue contributing to their local, state, and federal economies; and

Whereas, Numerous investment firms have manipulated sections of the bankruptcy code to maximize profits by reducing health benefits, slashing pensions, and selling off a company’s most valuable assets; and

Whereas, Current bankruptcy laws have allowed companies to close stores, slash jobs, and file bankruptcy when they no longer possess enough assets to pay off their creditors, including their pension obligations; and

Whereas, The Stop Looting American Pensions (SLAP) Act will increase bankruptcy priority for wages, allow the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation to perfect liens in bankruptcy, and mandate that a company must continue to make its minimum funding contributions towards its pension plan regardless of declaring bankruptcy; and

Whereas, The SLAP Act will also increase the lookback period to six years for fraudulent conveyances, expand restrictions on executive pay during bankruptcy, and require more notice to creditors when asset sales take place after filing bankruptcy; therefore, be it,

Resolved by the Senate:

That the Senate hereby urges the United States Senate to support the Stop Looting American Pensions Act; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to Senator Joe Manchin, Senator Shelley Moore-Capito, Representative David McKinley, Representative Alex Mooney, and Representative Carol Miller.