The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) approved the Pension Plan of the Marine Carpenters Pension Fund’s (Marine Carpenters Fund) application for Special Financial Assistance (SFA). The plan is based in Pleasanton, California and covers 1,198 participants in the construction industry. According to the PBGC, the Marine Carpenters Fund will receive approximately $34.6 million in SFA, including interest to the expected date of payment to the plan. The plan was projected to become insolvent and run out of money in 2034. Without the SFA Program, the Marine Carpenters Fund would have been required to reduce participants’ benefits to the PBGC guarantee levels upon plan insolvency, which is roughly 35 percent below the benefits payable under the terms of the plan.
SWACCA helped to include the SFA program in the American Rescue Plan Act at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and was actively engaged in the deliberations over the regulations that implemented the program.