Sponsors (4)
The bill increases public and congressional visibility into ERISA enforcement and can reveal systemic delays that justify reforms, but it creates more administrative work for DOL and may limit usefulness for affected parties because of necessary redactions.
Congress, taxpayers, and the public will receive regular, standardized annual reports on EBSA enforcement activity, increasing transparency and accountability for ERISA enforcement.
Nonprofits, hospitals, plan participants, and regulators will be better able to identify systemic delays (e.g., investigations exceeding 36 months) from the reports, supporting targeted reforms to speed enforcement and protect plan participants.
Department of Labor and EBSA staff will face increased administrative burden to compile, redact, and publish the annual reports, adding workload for federal employees and potentially diverting resources from investigations.
Plan sponsors and participants may get limited actionable information because identifying details are redacted, reducing the report's usefulness for assessing specific enforcement outcomes or holding parties accountable.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires an annual Department of Labor report to Congress listing EBSA investigations' office, open date, first document request date, and whether closed within 36 months, excluding private identities.
Official title: To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require that the Employee Benefit Security Administration make an annual report to Congress on investigations.
Introduced April 10, 2025 by Lisa C. McClain · Last progress April 10, 2025
Requires the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) to send Congress an annual report listing investigations and enforcement matters that were active or in targeted compliance monitoring during the prior fiscal year. The report must identify the EBSA office that opened each investigation, when it was opened, when documents were first requested, and whether the investigation was concluded within 36 months of that first request; it must not identify private parties and defines when an investigation is considered concluded.