The U.S. Capitol. Credit: Shutterstock
The U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee took federal benefit plan compliance investigators to the political woodshed last week by approving a new investigation progress reporting bill.
Committee members voted 19-16 to support the Employee Benefit Security Administration Investigations Transparency Act bill.
The bill would require EBSA — a division of the U.S. Labor Department with an acronym pronounced "Eb-suh" — to give Congress an annual report on the status of its investigations and the expected completion dates.
EBSA would have to explain why any investigations that were more than 36 months old had taken so long.
Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., introduced the bill in response to complaints from employers that EBSA has tied them up with long investigations.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 originally required EBSA to send Congress annual reports on its investigations, but the reporting requirement expired in 2000 and was not renewed, McClain said at a markup, or bill consideration meeting, held Sept. 17.
Employers "report that EBSA often fails to conduct investigations in a timely manner, creating unacceptable burdens on employers and undermining plan participant confidence," McClain said.
A House subcommittee "heard at a hearing that some plan sponsors do not even know when or if their investigations have ended," McClain said.
Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, said at the markup that Republicans and other critics are blaming EBSA for the effects of Republicans' efforts to keep EBSA's budget unrealistically low.
"While some investigations may take a lot of time, the consistent underfunding of EBSA and the steady decline of full-time employees undermine its ability to protect workers and families," Scott said.
The Trump administration has proposed smaller budget cuts for EBSA than for many other federal agencies, but, as of April, about 200 of its 889 full-time employees had opted for voluntary early retirement or a deferred resignation.
What it means: Questions about how EBSA conducts investigations of employers' retirement plans and health plans could show how Daniel Aronowitz, the newly confirmed assistant Labor secretary in charge of EBSA, will approach efforts to run the agency.
Aronowitz has worked for decades as a benefit plan attorney, and he may have come face-to-face with EBSA investigators many times in his career. He may welcome a chance to cut their budgets, or he could support the idea of spending more money to help the investigators respond more quickly to questions from plan sponsors and participants.
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