Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2958 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2958
5	5	To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require
6	6	that the Employee Benefit Security Administration submit an annual
7	7	report to Congress on adverse interest agreements, and for other pur-
8	8	poses.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	APRIL17, 2025
11	11	Mr. R
12	12	ULLIintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
13	13	on Education and Workforce
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
16	16	of 1974 to require that the Employee Benefit Security
17	17	Administration submit an annual report to Congress on
18	18	adverse interest agreements, and for other purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Balance the Scales 4
23	23	Act’’. 5
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26	26	•HR 2958 IH
27	27	SEC. 2. REPORT ON ADVERSE INTEREST AGREEMENTS. 1
28	28	(a) I
29	29	NGENERAL.—Section 504 of the Employee Re-2
30	30	tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1134) 3
31	31	is amended by adding at the end the following: 4
32	32	‘‘(f) C
33	33	OLLABORATION WITHPLAINTIFFATTOR-5
34	34	NEYS.— 6
35	35	‘‘(1) I
36	36	N GENERAL.—In the event that the Sec-7
37	37	retary provides adverse assistance to an individual, 8
38	38	prior to providing the adverse assistance, the Sec-9
39	39	retary shall— 10
40	40	‘‘(A) enter into a written agreement with 11
41	41	the individual that details the nature and scope 12
42	42	of such assistance, and 13
43	43	‘‘(B) provide a copy of such agreement to 14
44	44	any employer, plan sponsor, or fiduciary that 15
45	45	may be directly and adversely impacted by such 16
46	46	assistance. 17
47	47	‘‘(2) A
48	48	DVERSE ASSISTANCE DEFINED .—For 18
49	49	purposes of this subsection, the term ‘adverse assist-19
50	50	ance’ means assistance or advice, including the dis-20
51	51	closure of information as described in subsection (a), 21
52	52	that is directed specifically toward an attorney for 22
53	53	potential use in a civil action under section 502(a). 23
54	54	‘‘(3) R
55	55	EPORT.— 24
56	56	‘‘(A) I
57	57	N GENERAL.—Not later than 60 25
58	58	days after the date of enactment of this sub-26
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61	61	•HR 2958 IH
62	62	section, and by December 31 of each year that 1
63	63	begins after such date, the Secretary shall sub-2
64	64	mit to Congress a report containing information 3
65	65	on all agreements to provide adverse assistance 4
66	66	in effect for the preceding fiscal year, including, 5
67	67	in relation to each such agreement— 6
68	68	‘‘(i) a copy of the agreement, with any 7
69	69	information described in subparagraph 8
70	70	(B)(ii) redacted; 9
71	71	‘‘(ii) the date the agreement was en-10
72	72	tered into; 11
73	73	‘‘(iii) a detailed description of the na-12
74	74	ture and scope of the assistance provided 13
75	75	during the fiscal year, including— 14
76	76	‘‘(I) the information shared, in-15
77	77	cluding the source, type, and amount 16
78	78	of the information, and the date on 17
79	79	which such information was shared; 18
80	80	‘‘(II) a log of verbal communica-19
81	81	tions, including— 20
82	82	‘‘(aa) the date of each com-21
83	83	munication; 22
84	84	‘‘(bb) the parties engaged in 23
85	85	such communication; 24
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88	88	•HR 2958 IH
89	89	‘‘(cc) the mode of commu-1
90	90	nication; and 2
91	91	‘‘(dd) the nature of any in-3
92	92	formation shared; and 4
93	93	‘‘(III) a log of meetings, includ-5
94	94	ing— 6
95	95	‘‘(aa) the date of each meet-7
96	96	ing; 8
97	97	‘‘(bb) the parties present at 9
98	98	the meeting; 10
99	99	‘‘(cc) mode of the meeting; 11
100	100	and 12
101	101	‘‘(dd) the purpose of such 13
102	102	meeting and the nature of any 14
103	103	information shared; and 15
104	104	‘‘(iv) an explanation of how such 16
105	105	agreement is consistent with the public pol-17
106	106	icy of promoting the voluntary sponsorship 18
107	107	of employee benefit plans subject to this 19
108	108	Act. 20
109	109	‘‘(B) I
110	110	DENTIFYING INFORMATION .—The 21
111	111	report described under paragraph (A)— 22
112	112	‘‘(i) shall identify the parties to each 23
113	113	agreement; and 24
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116	116	•HR 2958 IH
117	117	‘‘(ii) may not include any information 1
118	118	that may be used to identify any other per-2
119	119	son (including an employer, plan sponsor, 3
120	120	plan fiduciary, service provider, or any 4
121	121	other potential defendant).’’. 5
122	122	(b) E
123	123	FFECTIVEDATE.— 6
124	124	(1) I
125	125	N GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), 7
126	126	the amendments made by this section shall apply to 8
127	127	any adverse assistance provided on or after the date 9
128	128	of enactment of this Act. 10
129	129	(2) E
130	130	XISTING AGREEMENTS .—For the purposes 11
131	131	of section 504(f)(1) (as added by this section) of the 12
132	132	Employee Retirement Income Security Act (29 13
133	133	U.S.C. 1134(f)(1)), if, not later than 60 days after 14
134	134	the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 15
135	135	Labor takes the actions required in paragraphs (A) 16
136	136	and (B) of such paragraph in relation to an existing 17
137	137	arrangement to provide adverse assistance, the Sec-18
138	138	retary shall be deemed to have taken such actions 19
139	139	prior to providing such adverse assistance. 20
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142	142	•HR 2958 IH
143	143	SEC. 3. PRIVATE PENSION PLANS AS INTEGRAL TO THE 1
144	144	CONTINUED WELL-BEING AND SECURITY OF 2
145	145	EMPLOYEES AND THEIR DEPENDANTS. 3
146	146	Section 2 of the Employee Retirement Income Secu-4
147	147	rity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001) is amended by adding 5
148	148	at the end the following: 6
149	149	‘‘(d) Congress finds that the retirement security of 7
150	150	millions of employees and their dependents is directly im-8
151	151	pacted by the voluntary sponsorship and maintenance of 9
152	152	pension plans. It is hereby declared to be a policy of this 10
153	153	Act to promote, encourage, and facilitate the voluntary es-11
154	154	tablishment and maintenance of, and contribution to, such 12
155	155	plans.’’. 13
156	156	Æ
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