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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**1996**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1996-25A 10/31/1996 3(40)	Mr. Harvey A. Kurtz Foley & Lardner Firstar Center 777 East Wisconsin Avenue Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202-5367	Whether the Health Care Provider Benefit Plans, Inc. Fringe Benefit Welfare Plan is established and maintained by a "group or association of employers" within the meaning ERISA section 3(5) and whether it is an “employee welfare benefit plan” within the meaning of ERISA section 3(1).
1996-24A 10/31/1996 3(33)	Ms. Michele Berman Golkow Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll 1735 Market Street, 51st Floor Philadelphia, PA 19103-7599	Whether the Moorestown Friends School Pension Plan is a “church plan”, as defined in ERISA section 3(33), and therefore excluded from ERISA Title I coverage by ERISA section 4(b)(2).
1996-23A 10/23/1996 401(b)	Mr. Edwin M. Jones Bentley, Mosher, Babson & Lambert, P.C. 20 Dayton Avenue P.O. Box 788 Greenwich, Connecticut 06836-0788	Whether an employee benefit plan's investment in certain "pass-through certificates" representing interests in a trust would constitute "equity interests," as that term in used in the plan assets regulation (29 C.F.R. 2510.3-101) under ERISA.
1996-22A 10/07/1996 3(32)	Mr. John M. Griggs Executive Director Kentucky Association of Counties 380 King's Daughters Drive Frankfort, KY 40601	Whether the status of the County Employees' Retirement System (CERS) as a “governmental plan” within the meaning of ERISA section 3(32) and ERISA section 4(b)(1) would be adversely affected if employees of Kentucky Association of Counties were permitted to participate in CERS.
1996-21A 09/30/1996 3(32)	Mr. Dennis E. Valentine Brauer, Buescher, Valentine, Goldhammer & Kelman, P.C. 1563 Gaylord Street Denver, Colorado 80206	Whether the City of Aurora Employees' Health Fund is excluded from Title I of ERISA as a “governmental plan” within the meaning of ERISA section 3(32).
1996-20A 09/30/1996 3(32)	Mr. Dennis E. Valentine Brauer, Buescher, Valentine, Goldhammer & Kelman, P.C. 1563 Gaylord Street Denver, Colorado 80206	Whether the Denver Fire and Police Health Fund is excluded from Title I of ERISA as a “governmental plan” within the meaning of ERISA section 3(32).
1996-19A 09/30/1996 3(33)	Ms. Barbara A. Breeding Barbara Breeding & Associates, P.C. 11811 North Freeway, Suite 225 Houston, Texas 77060	Whether certain employee benefit plans sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word are “church plans” within the meaning of ERISA section 3(33) and thus excluded from the requirements of Title I by ERISA section 4(b)(2).
1996-18A 09/25/1996 3(33)	Ms. Sharon L. Klingelsmith Drinker, Biddle, & Reath 1345 Chestnut Street Philadelphia PA 19107-3496	Whether certain benefit plans established by the Brook Lane Psychiatric Center, Inc. for its employees are “church plans” as defined in ERISA section 3(33) , and therefore excluded from ERISA Title I coverage by ERISA section 4(b)(2).
1996-17A 09/17/1996 3(33)	S. Howard Kline Buchanan Ingersoll. One Oxford Centre 301 Grant Street, 20th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15219-1410	Whether the Retirement Plan for Employees of Mercy Providence Hospital and the Mercy Providence Hospital Group Health Plan are “church plans” within the meaning of ERISA section 3(33).
1996-16A 08/27/1996 3(1)	Mr. Scott J. Morris Assistant General Counsel Northwestern Mutual Life 720 East Wisconsin Avenue Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202-4797	Whether the NML Employee Disability Income Plan is an “employee welfare benefit plan” within the meaning of ERISA section 3(1).