Advisory Opinions

Requests for interpretations and other rulings under Title 1 of ERISA are handled by the Office of Regulations and Interpretations under the provisions established by ERISA Procedure 76-1. The office answers inquiries from individuals and organizations in the form of advisory opinions, which apply the law to a specific set of facts, or information letters, which merely call attention to well established principles or interpretations.

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**1999**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1999-10A 07/26/1999 3(32)	Susanne K. Reed, Esq. Assistant General Counsel School and Legal College Services Sonoma County Office of Education 5340 Skylane Boulevard Santa Rosa, California 95403	Whether participation by twenty-eight employees of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in the California Public Employees' Retirement System would adversely affect the status of CalPERS as a "governmental plan" within the meaning of section 3(32) of ERISA.
1999-09A 05/21/1999 406 408(b)	Patricia A. Shlonsky Ulmer & Berne, LLP Bond Court Building 1300 East Ninth Street, Suite 900 Cleveland, Ohio 44114-1583	Whether the Fund would engage in a prohibited transaction under section 406 of ERISA if it retained and compensated, for the purpose of constructing an addition to the Fund’s training facility, a general contractor or subcontractor that employs or is owned by a plan fiduciary.
1999-08A 05/20/1999 401(b)	Mr. Thomas W. Meagher Actuarial Sciences Associates, Inc. 270 Davidson Avenue Somerset, New Jersey 08873	Concerning the application of Title I of ERISA to a special purpose trust established on behalf of Michigan Consolidated Gas Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCN Energy Group, Inc. Specifically, whether assets contributed to the Trust would constitute assets of an employee welfare benefit plan for purposes of Title I of ERISA.
1999-07A 05/19/1999 3(32)	Mr. Thomas E. Hayes Office of City Attorney 800 City Hall 200 East Wells Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202-3551	Whether the Employees' Retirement System of the City of Milwaukee "governmental plan" status would be adversely affected if the Plan implements a city charter ordinance that provides for continued accrual of benefits by certain former governmental employees whose employment has been transferred to a private enterprise as part of an arrangement regarding operation of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
1999-06A 04/06/1999 3(32)	Mr. Richard Tanner Executive Director Kentucky Magistrates and Commissioners Association 400 King’s Daughters Drive Frankfurt, Kentucky 40601-4106	Whether the status of CERS as a "governmental plan" within the meaning of section 3(32) and section 4(b)(1) of Title I of ERISA would not be adversely affected if employees of KMCA were permitted to participate in CERS.
1999-05A 02/22/1999 401(b)	Laraine S. Rothenberg, Esq. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson One New York Plaza New York, New York 10004	Regarding the application of the "plan assets" regulation issued under ERISA to certain mortgage pool certificates offered by Farmer Mac. Specifically, that guaranteed mortgage-backed certificates issued by Farmer Mac are "guaranteed governmental mortgage pool certificates" within the meaning of 29 C.F.R. 2510.3-101(i)(2).
1999-04A 02/04/1999 3(7)	John P. Counts, Esq. David Potts-Dupre, Esq. Counts & Kanne 1125 15th Street, NW, Suite 444 Washington, DC 20005	Whether individuals who own business enterprises, either wholly or in part, and who provide personal services to those businesses may be "participants," within the meaning of section 3(7) of ERISA, in a multiemployer employee benefit plan.
1999-03A 01/25/1999 406(b)	Michael A. Lawson Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom, LLP 300 South Grand Avenue Los Angeles, California 90071-3144	Guidance with respect to a plan fiduciary’s decision to purchase on the secondary market, with plan assets, non-subordinated mortgage-backed pass-through certificates representing interests in a trust fund for which an affiliate of the fiduciary serves as a sub-servicer.
1999-02A 01/25/1999 3(32)	Greg W. Isley, CPA McGladrey & Pullen, LLP 901 College Court PO Box 15409 New Bern, North Carolina 28561-5409	Whether the Craven Regional Medical Center Money Purchase Pension Plan and Trust, the Craven Regional Medical Center 403(b) Tax-Sheltered Annuity Plan, and the Craven Regional Medical Center Employee Benefit Plan are "governmental plans" within the meaning of ERISA section 3(32).
1999-01A 01/13/1999 3(2)	John J. Castellano 29 Ossipee Road PO Box 423 Cape Neddick, Maine 03902-0423	Whether the Suffolk University Voluntary Separation Program is an employee pension plan within the meaning of section 3(2) of ERISA, and whether ERISA governs withholding for Social Security/Medicare and state income tax by Suffolk University from separation payments being made under the University Program.