Church Plan Investment Clarification Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this bill would permit church pension plans to invest in collective trusts by correcting a technical error that resulted from the interaction of the securities laws and the Tax Code. In 2003, Mr. Speaker, Congress passed legislation that was intended to accomplish this goal, but the final law did not make the necessary corrections to the Securities Act of 1933. As such, IRS regulations currently prevent collective trusts from allowing investments by church plans.

This bill will make it more cost-efficient for a religious organization to manage its pension plans by allowing the plan to manage its assets through a collective trust mechanism alongside the assets of other pension plans. Church pension plans will no longer have to be managed separately, which creates greater costs to the plan and its participants. The bill, Mr. Speaker, effectively provides another option for church pension plans and allows them to be managed much more like other kinds of pension plans, and will minimize costs.

This bill is supported by the Church Alliance, a coalition of 37 denominational benefit programs that provide pensions and health benefits to more than 1 million clergy across this country, lay workers, and their family members.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill.

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