Christmas for the nation's pension plans came a little early last year, as President Bush on Dec. 23 signed legislation that is expected to provide some relief for single- and multi-employer retirement plans.

Union leaders pleaded with Congress late last year to change the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which required that pension plans falling below certain funding levels bump up employer contributions or impose cutbacks on worker benefits until a healthy funding level - generally 80 percent - is achieved.

The new bill gives multi-employer plans 13 years - instead of 10 years, which had been the rule - to achieve those higher funding levels, if needed. It is hoped that the longer period of time will allow the stock market to bounce back and improve returns, and for worker hours to increase in order to help the financial conditions of the pension funds.

The plan approved by Bush and passed by the House and Senate also allows multi-employer plans to choose to freeze the financial zone that they are in - Green, Yellow or Red - for one year. All building trades union plans fall under the "multi-employer" label.

Building and Construction Trades Department President Mark Ayers said in a letter to union affiliates that the law would provide "funding relief for the vast majority of building trades' multi-employer plans...which, like most pension plans, have been devastated by the decline in the stock markets."

The legislation gives plans "a little more time to weather the economic storm," said Karen Lapsevic, Associated General Contractors' director for tax, fiscal affairs and infrastructure finance, to the Engineering News Record.

The new law also says that people 70-1/2 years old or older will not have to take distributions from their retirement plans as required under current law, allowing them to keep savings intact for a year longer and avoid a tax hit from the lousy stock market. (Consult your tax advisor on that issue).