Railroad Retirement Fairness Act

Railroad Retirement Fairness Act - Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to provide that an individual who, at the time the individual makes an inquiry to the Railroad Retirement Board, has a current connection with the railroad industry shall not be deemed to have lost that current connection thereafter: (1) if the Board misleads or fails to properly inform that individual about that requirement; and (2) if that conduct by the Board, according to the principles of equity, should stop the Board from deeming the individual to have lost that current connection.

(Current law deems an individual to have "a current connection with the railroad industry" at the time an annuity begins to accrue to that individual and at death, provided certain conditions exist.)

[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2738 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2738

To amend the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to provide that a current 
 connection is not lost by an individual who is misled or not properly 
 informed by the Railroad Retirement Board of the requirement for, and 
   the circumstances resulting in the loss of, a current connection.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 26, 2005

  Mr. Stupak introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to provide that a current 
 connection is not lost by an individual who is misled or not properly 
 informed by the Railroad Retirement Board of the requirement for, and 
   the circumstances resulting in the loss of, a current connection.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Railroad Retirement Fairness Act''.

SEC. 2. EQUITABLE EXTENSION OF CURRENT CONNECTION.

    (a) Equitable Estoppel.--Section 1(o) of the Railroad Retirement 
Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. 231(o)) is amended by inserting ``An individual 
who, at the time the individual makes an inquiry to the Board, has a 
current connection shall not be deemed to have lost that current 
connection thereafter if the Board misleads or fails to properly inform 
that individual about that requirement and if that conduct by the 
Board, according to the principles of equity, should stop the Board 
from deeming the individual to have lost that current connection.'' 
after the first sentence.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this Act applies with 
respect to annuities applied for on or after February 3, 1989.
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