Update: On July 6, 2012, President Obama signed this bill into law.

On Friday, the House and Senate approved a conference report (pdf) to the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012 (H.R. 4348) that includes several provisions establishing pension funding relief in addition to sections addressing motor vehicle carrier safety and operation.

Pension Funding

The conference report includes a number of provisions that seek to ease pension funding requirements. Among other changes, the conference report would amend the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by adding measures designed to stabilize the interest rates used to calculate plan liabilities for pension funding purposes. The measure would also require additional information to be included in the defined benefit plan annual funding notice.

With respect to an employer’s ability to transfer excess pension plan fund assets, the bill would permit qualified transfers, qualified future transfers, and collectively bargained transfers of this excess amount to retiree medical accounts through December 31, 2021. In addition, the report would allow the same transfers to be made to fund the purchase of retiree group-term life insurance through this period.

Finally, the bill would increase the pension premium rates for both variable and flat rate premiums paid to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and establish a cap on the variable rate premium.

A detailed explanation of these changes can be found in the bill’s Joint Explanatory Statement (pdf).

Motor Vehicle Safety Violations

The measure includes provisions that increase penalties for motor carriers that intentionally mask prior noncompliance with safety standards. Specifically, the measure permits the Transportation Secretary to “withhold, suspend, amend, or revoke a motor carrier’s registration if the carrier failed to disclose an adverse safety history or other facts relevant to its past regulatory compliance.” Such action could also be taken if the Secretary were to find that within the prior 3 years the carrier: (1) was closely related to another motor carrier with a poor compliance history; and (2) did not disclose this relationship in its application.

Other sections of this bill increase the civil penalties for motor carriers, motor carriers of migrant workers and private motor carriers that “disobey a subpoena or a requirement of the Secretary to produce witnesses or records.”

In addition, the report removes the minimum penalty amount that could be assessed against motor carriers for violations of hazardous materials laws and regulations. The conference report also adds language amending penalties for hazardous material training violations.

Electronic Hours of Service Recording

The conference report calls for new regulations requiring electronic logging devices for recording hours of service (HOS) in commercial motor vehicles involved in interstate commerce, and setting basic performance standards for the device. Any regulation would be required to “ensur[e] that an electronic logging device is not used to harass a vehicle operator.” In drafting these regulations, the Transportation Secretary must “consider how the rule may reduce or eliminate requirements for drivers and motor carriers to retain supporting documentation associated with paper-based records.”

The House approved the conference report by a vote of 373-52. The Senate cleared this measure shortly thereafter by a vote of 74-19. President Obama is expected to sign this bill into law.

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