Pub. L. 89-700, tit. I, sec. 105

Sec. 105. (a) The first sentence of section 5(b) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 is amended by striking out “employee entitled to receive an annuity under subsection (c)” and inserting in lieu thereof “employee, which child (without regard to the provisions of subsection (l) (1) (ii) (B)) is entitled to receive an annuity under subsection (c),”. (b) (1) The second sentence of such section 5(b) is amended by striking out “no child of the deceased employee is entitled” and inserting in lieu thereof “no child of the deceased employee (without regard to the provisions of subsection (1) (1) (ii) (B)) is entitled”. (2) The proviso in said section 5(b) and the proviso in section 5(a) are each amended by striking out the words “subsection (e) of”. (c) Section 5(f) (1) of such Act is amended (1) by striking out the second sentence thereof and inserting in lieu thereof the following: “If there be no such widow or widower, such lump sum shall be paid— “(i) if all or part of the burial expenses of such insured individual which are incurred by or through a funeral home or funeral homes remain unpaid, to such funeral home or funeral homes to the extent of such unpaid expenses, but only if (A) any person who assumed the responsibility for the payment of all or any part of such burial expenses files an application, prior to the expiration of two years after the date of death of such insured individual, requesting that such payment be made to such funeral home or funeral homes, or (B) at least ninety days have elapsed after the date of death of such insured individual and prior to the expiration of such ninety days no person has assumed responsibility for the payment of any of such burial expenses; “(ii) if all of the burial expenses of such insured individual which were incurred by or through a funeral home or funeral homes have been paid (including payments made under clause (i)), to any person or persons, equitably entitled thereto, to the extent and in the proportions that he or they shall have paid such burial expenses; or “(iii) if any part of the amount payable under this subsection remains after payments have been made pursuant to clauses (i) and (ii), to any person or persons, equitably entitled thereto, to the extent and m the proportions that he or they shall have paid other expenses in connection with the burial of such insured individual, in the following order of priority: (A) expenses of opening and closing the grave of such insured individual, (B) expenses of providing the burial plot of such insured individual, and (C) any remaining expenses in connection with the burial of such insured individual.”, and (2) by striking out from the third sentence thereof all after the phrase “this paragraph” where it appears the second time in such sentence and inserting in lieu thereof the following: “to the widow or widower to whom a lump sum would have been payable under this paragraph except for the fact that a monthly benefit under this section was payable for the month in which the employee died and who will not have died before receiving payment of such lump sum.” (d) (1) Section 5(f) (2) of such Act is amended by inserting after “1961” the following: “, and before January 1, 1966, plus an amount equal to the total of all employee taxes payable by him or her after 80 Stat. 1083December 31, 1965, under the provisions of section 3201 of the Railroad Retirement Tax Act, plus one-half of 1 per centum of the compensation on which such taxes were payable, deeming the compensation attributable to creditable military service rendered after June 30, 1963, to be taxable compensation, and one-half of the taxes payable by an employee representative under section 3211 of the Railroad Retirement Tax Act to be employee taxes payable under section 3201 of such Act”. The said section 5(f)(2) is further amended by striking out the colon before the proviso and inserting in lieu thereof the following: “(for this purpose, payments to providers of services under section 21 of this Act and the amount of the employee tax attributable to so much in tax rate as is derived from section 3101(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, shall be disregarded):”. (2) The said section 5(f)(2) is further amended by striking out the phrase “upon attaining retirement age (as defined in section 216(a) of the Social Security Act)” wherever it appears and inserting in lieu thereof “upon attaining the age of eligibility”. (e) Section 5(g) of such Act is amended by striking out paragraph (3) thereof. (f) Section 5(i) of such Act is amended by inserting in paragraph 3(i) after “Retirement Acts” the following: “as in effect before 1947” and by striking out the word “and”; by inserting after “employee” in paragraph 3(ii) “before 1947”, and by changing the period to a semi-colon and inserting thereafter the word “and”; by inserting after paragraph 3(ii) the following: “(iii) any lump-sum benefit, paid to the same person, with respect to the death of such employee under subsection (f)(2)”; and by inserting after paragraph (3) thereof the following new paragraph: “(4) Any annuity for a month prior to the month in which application is filed shall be reduced, to any extent that may be necessary, so that it will not render erroneous any annuity which, before the filing of such application, the Board has certified for payment for such prior month.”; and by changing “(4)” to “(5)” in the last paragraph thereof. (g) Section 5(i)(1)(ii) of such Act is amended by inserting before “; or” the following: “: Provided, however, That in determining an individual’s excess earnings for a year for the purposes of this section and section 3(e) there shall not be included his income from employment or self-employment during months beginning with the month with respect to which he ceases to be qualified for an annuity or ceases, without regard to the effect of excess earnings, to be included in the computation under section 3(e)”. (h) Section 5(j) of such Act is amended by inserting before the period at the end thereof the following: “: Provided, however, That the annuity of a child qualified under subsection (1) (1) (ii) (C) of this section shall cease to be payable with the month preceding the third month following the month in which he ceases to be unable to engage in any regular employment by reason of a permanent physical or mental condition unless in the month herein first mentioned he qualifies for an annuity under one of the other provisions of this Act”. (i) Section 5(k) (1) of such Act is amended by striking out “section 210(a) (10)” and inserting in lieu thereof “section 210(a) (9)”. (j) (1) Section 5(1) (1) (ii) of such Act is amended by striking out “or uncle” and inserting in lieu thereof “uncle, brother or sister”. (2) The said section 5(1) (1) (ii) is further amended by striking out “and shall be less than eighteen years of age, or shall have a permanent physical or mental condition which is such that he is unable to engage in any regular employment: Provided, That such 80 Stat. 1084disability began before the child attains age eighteen; and” and inserting in lieu thereof the following: “and— “(A) shall be less than eighteen years of age; or “(B) shall be less than twenty-two years of age and a full-time student at an educational institution (determined as prescribed in this paragraph); or “(C) shall, without regard to his age, be unable to engage in any regular employment by reason of a permanent physical or mental condition which began before he attained age eighteen, and”. (3) Section 5(1) (1) of such Act is further amended (i) by inserting before the period at the end of the second sentence thereof the following: “, or if such widow or widower would be paid benefits, as such, under title II of the Social Security Act but for the fact that the employee died insured under this Act”; (ii) by inserting after “subsection (f) of section 2” in the fourth sentence thereof the following: “and subsection (f) of section 3”; (iii) by inserting after such fourth sentence the following new sentence: “In determining for purposes of this section and subsection (f) of section 3 whether an applicant is the grandchild, brother, or sister of an employee as claimed, the rules set forth in section 216(h) (1) of the Social Security Act, as in effect prior to 1957, shall be applied the same as if such persons were included in such section 216(h) (1).”; (iv) by changing the semicolon at the end thereof to a period and inserting thereafter the following: “The provisions of paragraph (8) of section 202(d) of the Social Security Act (defining the terms ‘full-time student’ and ‘educational institution’) shall be applied by the Board in the administration of this section as if the references therein to the Secretary were references to the Board. For purposes of the last sentence of subsection (j) of this section, a child entitled to a child’s insurance annuity only on the basis of being a full-time student described in clause (ii) (B) of this paragraph shall cease to be qualified therefor in the first month during no part of which he is a full-time student, or the month in which he attains age 22, whichever first occurs. A child whose entitlement to a child’s insurance annuity, on the basis of the compensation of an insured individual, terminated with the month preceding the month in which such child attained age eighteen, or with a subsequent month, may again become entitled to such an annuity (providing no event to disqualify the child has occurred) beginning with the first month thereafter in which he is a full-time student and has not attained the age of twenty-two, if he has filed an application for such reentitlement.”; and (v) by striking out the semicolon from the end of paragraphs “(2)”, “(3)”, “(5)”, “(7)”, and “(9)” and inserting in lieu thereof a period. (k) Section 5(1) (9) of such Act is amended by inserting after the last sentence of the first paragraph thereof the following new sentence: “In any case where credit is claimed for months of service within two years prior to the death of the employee who rendered such service, with respect to which the employer’s return pursuant to section 8 of this Act has not been entered on the records of the Board before a benefit under this section could otherwise be certified for payment, the Board may, in its discretion (subject to subsequent adjustment at the request of the survivor) include the compensation for such months in the computation of the benefit without further verification and may consider the compensation for such months to be the average of the compensation for months in the last period for which the employer has filed a return of the compensation of such employee.”