---
kind: "section"
citation: "29 U.S.C. § 1001a"
title: "29"
title_heading: "Labor"
number: "1001a"
heading: "Additional Congressional findings and declaration of policy"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/29/1001a"
units:
  - "Chapter 18 — Employee Retirement Income Security Program"
  - "Subchapter I — Protection of Employee Benefit Rights"
  - "Subtitle A — General Provisions"
---

# §1001a. Additional Congressional findings and declaration of policy

- (a) **Effects of multiemployer pension plans—** The Congress finds that—
  - (1) multiemployer [pension plans](/usc/29/1002.md?p=2-A) have a substantial impact on interstate [commerce](/usc/29/1002.md?p=11) and are affected with a national public interest;
  - (2) multiemployer [pension plans](/usc/29/1002.md?p=2-A) have accounted for a substantial portion of the increase in private [pension plan](/usc/29/1002.md?p=2-A) coverage over the past three decades;
  - (3) the continued well-being and [security](/usc/29/1002.md?p=20) of millions of [employees](/usc/29/1002.md?p=6), retirees, and their dependents are directly affected by multiemployer [pension plans](/usc/29/1002.md?p=2-A); and
  - (4)
    - (A) withdrawals of contributing [employers](/usc/29/1002.md?p=5) from a multiemployer [pension plan](/usc/29/1002.md?p=2-A) frequently result in substantially increased funding obligations for [employers](/usc/29/1002.md?p=5) who continue to contribute to the plan, adversely affecting the plan, its [participants](/usc/29/1002.md?p=7) and [beneficiaries](/usc/29/1002.md?p=8), and labor-management relations, and
    - (B) in a declining industry, the incidence of [employer](/usc/29/1002.md?p=5) withdrawals is higher and the adverse effects described in [subparagraph (A)](#a-4-A) are exacerbated.
- (b) **Modification of multiemployer plan termination insurance provisions and replacement of program—** The Congress further finds that—
  - (1) it is desirable to modify the current [multiemployer plan](/usc/29/1002.md?p=37-A) termination insurance provisions in order to increase the likelihood of protecting plan [participants](/usc/29/1002.md?p=7) against benefit losses; and
  - (2) it is desirable to replace the termination insurance program for multiemployer [pension plans](/usc/29/1002.md?p=2-A) with an insolvency-based benefit protection program that will enhance the financial soundness of such plans, place primary emphasis on plan continuation, and contain program costs within reasonable limits.
- (c) **Policy—** It is hereby declared to be the policy of this Act—
  - (1) to foster and facilitate interstate [commerce](/usc/29/1002.md?p=11),
  - (2) to alleviate certain problems which tend to discourage the maintenance and growth of multiemployer [pension plans](/usc/29/1002.md?p=2-A),
  - (3) to provide reasonable protection for the interests of [participants](/usc/29/1002.md?p=7) and [beneficiaries](/usc/29/1002.md?p=8) of financially distressed multiemployer [pension plans](/usc/29/1002.md?p=2-A), and
  - (4) to provide a financially self-sufficient program for the guarantee of [employee](/usc/29/1002.md?p=6) benefits under [multiemployer plans](/usc/29/1002.md?p=37-A).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 96–364, § 3, Sept. 26, 1980, 94 Stat. 1209.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

This Act, referred to in subsec. (c), is Pub. L. 96–364, Sept. 26, 1980, 94 Stat. 1208, known as the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1980 Amendment note set out under section 1001 of this title and Tables.

### Codification

Section was enacted as part of the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980, and not as part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 which comprises this chapter.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective Sept. 26, 1980, see section 1461(e)(1) of this title.

### Study and Report Respecting Collective Bargaining for Contributions to, and Benefits From, Multiemployer Plans

Pub. L. 96–364, title IV, § 412(b), Sept. 26, 1980, 94 Stat. 1309, directed Secretary of Labor to study feasibility of requiring collective bargaining on both issues of contributions to, and benefits from, multiemployer plans, and submit a report on the study to Congress within 3 years of Sept. 26, 1980.