Has anyone heard anything about this new small business pension plan option since Clinton mentioned it in his State of the Union address in January? I've checked the DOL pages and haven't seen any action on this.

Peg Hetlage

PBGC Executive Director David Strauss testified about SMART plans on March 11 to the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight of Pension Issues; other witnesses had some stuff to say, too.

(Found it using the Search page on BenefitsLink. The Search page is wicked-kewl, if I do say so myself.)

BenefitsLink also has , taken from the "Green Book" issued February 2.

[This message has been edited by Dave Baker (edited 08-19-98).]

Russ Sullivan of Sen. Graham's office spoke to the North FL Employee Benefits Council yesterday and discussed pending pension legislation. He said that there is not much optimism that any pension bill will be passed in 1998, but prospects look good in 1999.

One of the items in the bill is the SMART/SAVER defined benefit plan and there appears to be strong support for this across board in Congress so he expects this provision (or something very like it) will be in the next pension bill.