June 2022
Former Congressman John Lewis, D-Georgia, established the Congressional Structured Settlements Caucus in 2015, to help educate Members of Congress on the important public policy values of structured settlements. The Caucus is focused on federal legislative and regulatory efforts to preserve, promote, protect and defend structured settlements. The critical agenda objectives for the Members of the Congressional Structured Settlements Caucus for the 117th Congress include:
- Educating the 78 newly elected Members of Congress on the important public policy benefits of structured settlements
- Highlighting the value and importance of Federal Tax Code Section104(a)(2) and Section 130
- Working with Congress to expand 104(a)(2) to allow structured settlements to be used to help settle medically diagnosed PTSD cases
- Working with Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to protect the use of WC-MSAs and develop LMSAs
- Working with Congress to allow structured settlements to directly fund ABLE Accounts
Congressman Jim Langevin, D-Rhode Island, Chair of the Congressional Structured Settlements Caucus has hosted three seminars for Members of Congress focused on structured settlement industry issues
The first Congressional seminar included 35 newly elected Members of Congress who were encouraged to join the Congressional Structured Settlements Caucus. The second Congressional seminar focused on major structured settlement industry issues, including; expanding IRS tax code section 104(a)(2) to allow PTSD cases to be settled with a structured settlement and allowing structured settlements to directly fund ABLE Accounts. The third Congressional seminar focused on the importance of enhancing Judicial Education programs for State Court Judges who are dealing with structured settlement transfer petitions. The Congressional Caucus briefings are organized to encourage new Members of Congress to join the Caucus and to provide a background briefing on the important structured settlements tax code provision.
AAPD / NSSTA Position Paper on Structured Settlements
The Co-Chairs of the Congressional Structured Settlements Caucus delivered the updated 2022 AAPD / NSSTA Position Paper on Structured Settlements to every Member of Congress to alert Members to the importance of maintaining and protecting Section 130 and section 104)a)(2) of the federal tax code as the House Ways and Means Committee considers new Tax Reform legislation.
Structured Settlement Protection Acts
Members of the Congressional Structured Settlements Caucus have expressed considerable support for the NSSTA efforts to enact Structured Settlement Protection Acts in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Over 25 Members of the Congressional Structured Settlements Caucus attended a detailed briefing on structured settlement industry efforts to update and significantly upgrade the Minnesota Structured Settlements Protection Act. Over the past several years, Members of the Caucus followed closely the SSPA developments in Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Virginia and Florida. Caucus Members have expressed strong support for state legislative actions designed to strengthen and enhance consumer protection provisions adopted in several states over the past several months. NSSTA has briefed Members of Congress and key Congressional staffers on specific legislative developments that will provide greater protections for payees and greater awareness on the part of state court judges of the importance of carefully reviewing transfer petition documents to make certain the best interest of the payee are protected.
National Consumer League
At the start of 2022, the National Consumers League delivered to all Members of the Congressional Structured Settlements Caucus an overview of several major consumer protection issues during orientation sessions scheduled for newly elected Members of Congress. The National Consumer League included in their briefing materials comments focused on the value and important economic security benefits structured settlements provide to injured people. The National Consumer League has highlighted the new and enhanced consumer protections for structured settlement annuitants in the Minnesota SSPA in their Congressional Briefing for the 117th Congress.