• The “Revenue Reconciliation Bill of 1989” (H.R. 3150—introduced by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski) contains major changes in Code section 89. Section 89, as presently worded, imposes complex “nondiscrimination” and qualification requirements upon several employer-provided fringe benefits. The Rostenkowski bill attempts to simplify these requirements, and it specifically exempts church plans maintained for the benefit of church employees from the proposed nondiscrimination rules that apply to employer-provided health and group term life insurance plans, qualified tuition reduction plans, and “cafeteria plans” under Code section 125. The bill defines “church” to include churches, conventions and associations of churches, elementary or secondary schools that are controlled, operated, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches, or “qualified church-controlled organizations” as defined in section 3121(w)(3)(B) of the Code (see the May-June issue of Church Law & Tax Report for a discussion of this definition).

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