I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2958
To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require
that the Employee Benefit Security Administration submit an annual
report to Congress on adverse interest agreements, and for other pur-
poses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL17, 2025
Mr. R
ULLIintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
of 1974 to require that the Employee Benefit Security
Administration submit an annual report to Congress on
adverse interest agreements, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Balance the Scales 4
Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. REPORT ON ADVERSE INTEREST AGREEMENTS. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 504 of the Employee Re-2
tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1134) 3
is amended by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(f) C
OLLABORATION WITHPLAINTIFFATTOR-5
NEYS.— 6
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In the event that the Sec-7
retary provides adverse assistance to an individual, 8
prior to providing the adverse assistance, the Sec-9
retary shall— 10
‘‘(A) enter into a written agreement with 11
the individual that details the nature and scope 12
of such assistance, and 13
‘‘(B) provide a copy of such agreement to 14
any employer, plan sponsor, or fiduciary that 15
may be directly and adversely impacted by such 16
assistance. 17
‘‘(2) A
DVERSE ASSISTANCE DEFINED .—For 18
purposes of this subsection, the term ‘adverse assist-19
ance’ means assistance or advice, including the dis-20
closure of information as described in subsection (a), 21
that is directed specifically toward an attorney for 22
potential use in a civil action under section 502(a). 23
‘‘(3) R
EPORT.— 24
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 60 25
days after the date of enactment of this sub-26
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section, and by December 31 of each year that 1
begins after such date, the Secretary shall sub-2
mit to Congress a report containing information 3
on all agreements to provide adverse assistance 4
in effect for the preceding fiscal year, including, 5
in relation to each such agreement— 6
‘‘(i) a copy of the agreement, with any 7
information described in subparagraph 8
(B)(ii) redacted; 9
‘‘(ii) the date the agreement was en-10
tered into; 11
‘‘(iii) a detailed description of the na-12
ture and scope of the assistance provided 13
during the fiscal year, including— 14
‘‘(I) the information shared, in-15
cluding the source, type, and amount 16
of the information, and the date on 17
which such information was shared; 18
‘‘(II) a log of verbal communica-19
tions, including— 20
‘‘(aa) the date of each com-21
munication; 22
‘‘(bb) the parties engaged in 23
such communication; 24
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‘‘(cc) the mode of commu-1
nication; and 2
‘‘(dd) the nature of any in-3
formation shared; and 4
‘‘(III) a log of meetings, includ-5
ing— 6
‘‘(aa) the date of each meet-7
ing; 8
‘‘(bb) the parties present at 9
the meeting; 10
‘‘(cc) mode of the meeting; 11
and 12
‘‘(dd) the purpose of such 13
meeting and the nature of any 14
information shared; and 15
‘‘(iv) an explanation of how such 16
agreement is consistent with the public pol-17
icy of promoting the voluntary sponsorship 18
of employee benefit plans subject to this 19
Act. 20
‘‘(B) I
DENTIFYING INFORMATION .—The 21
report described under paragraph (A)— 22
‘‘(i) shall identify the parties to each 23
agreement; and 24
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‘‘(ii) may not include any information 1
that may be used to identify any other per-2
son (including an employer, plan sponsor, 3
plan fiduciary, service provider, or any 4
other potential defendant).’’. 5
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), 7
the amendments made by this section shall apply to 8
any adverse assistance provided on or after the date 9
of enactment of this Act. 10
(2) E
XISTING AGREEMENTS .—For the purposes 11
of section 504(f)(1) (as added by this section) of the 12
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (29 13
U.S.C. 1134(f)(1)), if, not later than 60 days after 14
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 15
Labor takes the actions required in paragraphs (A) 16
and (B) of such paragraph in relation to an existing 17
arrangement to provide adverse assistance, the Sec-18
retary shall be deemed to have taken such actions 19
prior to providing such adverse assistance. 20
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SEC. 3. PRIVATE PENSION PLANS AS INTEGRAL TO THE 1
CONTINUED WELL-BEING AND SECURITY OF 2
EMPLOYEES AND THEIR DEPENDANTS. 3
Section 2 of the Employee Retirement Income Secu-4
rity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001) is amended by adding 5
at the end the following: 6
‘‘(d) Congress finds that the retirement security of 7
millions of employees and their dependents is directly im-8
pacted by the voluntary sponsorship and maintenance of 9
pension plans. It is hereby declared to be a policy of this 10
Act to promote, encourage, and facilitate the voluntary es-11
tablishment and maintenance of, and contribution to, such 12
plans.’’. 13
Æ
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