§9701 Definitions of General Applicability

Summary

Defines key words used in the chapter. It names the different UMWA plans and funds — a UMWA Benefit Plan is a health plan described in section 404(c) that covers retirees and their beneficiaries from the industry that ran the 1950 UMWA Pension Plan. The 1950 UMWA Benefit Plan and 1950 UMWA Pension Plan are for people who retired before 1976. The 1974 UMWA Benefit Plan and 1974 UMWA Pension Plan are for people who retired on or after January 1, 1976 (or in 1976 and thereafter for the pension). The 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan is the plan named in section 9712. The Combined Fund means the United Mine Workers of America Combined Benefit Fund under section 9702. A coal wage agreement means the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement or a similar agreement between a coal employer and the UMWA that required retiree health benefits based on years of service or contributions to the 1950 or 1974 benefit plans. Settlors are the UMWA and the Bituminous Coal Operators’ Association, Inc. The National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement is the bargaining deal between those two groups. It also defines employers and related people. A signatory operator is a person who signed a coal wage agreement. A related person is someone in the same controlled group, under common control, or in a partnership/joint venture with a signatory operator if that business employed eligible beneficiaries. Those relationships are measured as of July 20, 1992, unless the signatory operator had already gone out of business, in which case they are measured just before it stopped operating. An 1988 agreement operator is a signatory to the 1988 agreement, an employer with the same pension/health terms, or an employer who actually paid contributions after 1987 and before July 20, 1992 to the 1950 or 1974 plans for work covered by the 1988 agreement. Last signatory operator means the retiree’s most recent coal employer that was a signatory. Assigned operator means the signatory operator assigned liability under section 9706. A person is “in business” if they do any business activity that brings in revenue. Successor in interest does not include an unrelated buyer who paid fair market value in a real arm’s-length sale of assets or stock; “unrelated person” and “eligible seller” are defined by the chapter. Enactment date means the date this chapter was enacted.