Committee advances bill requiring EBSA to report on investigations and prolonged cases

The House Committee on Education and Labor voted to report HR 2869, the EBSA Investigations Transparency Act, which would require the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) to submit an annual report to Congress on open employee benefit plan investigations and to provide an explanation and estimated conclusion date for any investigation open longer than three years.

Chairwoman McLean, who offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute, said the reporting requirement would restore congressional oversight tools that were removed in 1995 and give Congress needed insight into EBSA’s investigative docket.

Opponents, including Representative Scott and other Democrats, argued that while transparency is important, many EBSA investigations are complex; they also emphasized that EBSA’s staffing and funding have declined and that adding reporting obligations without additional resources would place further strain on the agency.

Representative Scott noted that EBSA oversees hundreds of thousands of retirement and health plans and said the agency has fewer investigators now than in prior decades; he argued the better remedy is funding and staffing rather than additional reporting requirements.

The committee adopted the substitute amendment and voted to report the bill. The clerk announced the recorded tally as 19 yeas and 16 nays; the motion to report passed.

The bill’s supporters included industry groups and plan sponsors who have sought regular reporting on EBSA’s investigatory timelines; opponents urged Congress to pair oversight measures with funding and staffing solutions.