PRINTER'S NO. 2991
No. 374 Session of 2000
INTRODUCED BY DeWEESE, GEORGE, DALEY, GEIST, HESS, BEBKO-JONES,
CALTAGIRONE, CAPPABIANCA, CASORIO, HALUSKA, MELIO, PETRARCA,
READSHAW, STABACK, TANGRETTI, TRAVAGLIO, YOUNGBLOOD, PESCI,
GIGLIOTTI, PETRONE, LAUGHLIN, M. COHEN, SOLOBAY, BELFANTI,
BELARDI, HORSEY AND WOJNAROSKI, FEBRUARY 15, 2000
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,
FEBRUARY 15, 2000
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging the President and the Congress of the United States to
2 work together to reform the financial structure of the Coal
3 Act to ensure that retired coal miners continue to receive
4 the health care benefits they were promised and rightly
5 deserve.
6 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania is a coal-producing and coal-consuming
7 state that has benefited tremendously from the hard, dangerous
8 work of retired coal miners; and
9 WHEREAS, The United States Government entered into a contract
10 with coal miners in 1946 that created the United Mine Workers of
11 America Health and Retirement Funds; and
12 WHEREAS, This contract was signed in the White House in a
13 ceremony with President Harry Truman; and
14 WHEREAS, A Federal commission established by Secretary of
15 Labor Elizabeth Dole concluded in 1990:
16 "Retired coal miners have legitimate expectations of
17 health care benefits for life; that was the promise they
1 received during their working lives and that is how they
2 planned their retirement years. That commitment should be
3 honored";
4 and
5 WHEREAS, This promise became law in 1992 when the Congress of
6 the United States passed and President George Bush signed the
7 Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act (the Coal Act); and
8 WHEREAS, The Coal Act reiterated the promise of lifetime
9 health benefits for retired coal miners and their dependents;
10 and
11 WHEREAS, Congress intended the Coal Act to:
12 "(1) remedy problems with the provision and funding of
13 health care benefits with respect to the beneficiaries of
14 multiemployer benefit plans that provide health care benefits
15 to retirees in the coal industry;
16 (2) allow for sufficient operating assets for such
17 plans; and
18 (3) provide for the continuation of a privately financed
19 self-sufficient program for the delivery of health care
20 benefits to the beneficiaries of such plans";
21 and
22 WHEREAS, Certain court decisions have eroded the financial
23 structure Congress put in place under the Coal Act; and
24 WHEREAS, These court decisions have placed the continued
25 provision of health benefits to retired coal miners in jeopardy;
26 therefore be it
27 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
28 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the President and the Congress
29 of the United States to work together to reform the financial
30 structure of the Coal Act to ensure that retired coal miners
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1 continue to receive the health care benefits they were promised
2 and so rightly deserve; and be it further
3 RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the
4 President of the United States and to each member of Congress
5 from Pennsylvania.
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