§231u Benefit preservation

Summary

The Railroad Retirement Board must make yearly five-year money forecasts. By May 1 each year starting in 1984 the Board must project money coming in and going out of the Railroad Retirement Account. By May 1 each year starting in 2003 it must also compute the account benefits ratio and the average account benefits ratio. No later than July 1 the Board must send a written report to the President, the Speaker of the House, and the President of the Senate. If the forecast shows the account could not pay full benefits sometime in the next five years, the report must name the first fiscal year when cuts would be needed (except benefits paid from the Dual Benefits Payments Account), name the first fiscal year when it would recommend stopping borrowing under section 360(d), and state any payroll-tax percentage changes and other fixes needed if they started at the next fiscal year. If the report shows a shortfall, the Board must publish it in the Federal Register 20 to 30 days after sending it. Within 180 days after that Federal Register notice about needed payroll-tax adjustments, railroad employee and carrier representatives must send funding plans to the President, the Speaker, and the President of the Senate. The President must also send recommendations to the Speaker and the President of the Senate within 180 days, including a proposal to separate social security–equivalent benefits from industry pension–equivalent benefits to keep social security–equivalent payments continuous. If a report names the first fiscal year when full benefits would have to be cut, the Board must issue Federal Register rules within 180 days to keep benefits level each month of that year at the highest constant amount possible and to make sure no one gets less that the amount they would have received under Social Security for post‑1936 service, minus any reductions required under sections 231b(m) or 231c(i).