ESOP Association Resources

On July 31, the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations passed the Fiscal 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Appropriations Act in a strongly bipartisan vote of 26-3.

The ESOP Association has been informed that the chief of DOL’s Division of Employee Ownership, Hilary Abell, has been reinstated, effective Monday, March 10. TEA is grateful to the Trump Administration for this rapid decision.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) today voted to advance Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination for Secretary of Labor to the full Senate.

President Donald Trump today nominated Daniel Aronowitz, President of Encore Fiduciary and a leading expert with thirty years of experience on fiduciary issues, to be Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) at the U.S. Department of Labor.

In one of the first actions of the Trump presidency, the White House has announced a pause on all proposed regulations from the Biden Administration that have yet to be finalized. The moratorium effectively freezes pending Executive Branch agency regulations.

On Thursday, January 16th, the U.S. Department of Labor (Department) released two proposed regulations containing rules that, if finalized, would govern ESOP stock acquisitions and sales.

The ESOP Association today applauded House Committee on Education & the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx for calling out potential abuse of authority at the Department of Labor (DOL) and its Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and calling for an investigation by the DOL’s Inspector General.

The ESOP Association has been informed that a proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor regarding what is known as the “adequate consideration exemption” for ESOP transactions has been drafted and is being submitted to OMB imminently.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations has passed several provisions that support employee ownership and ESOPs in the Fiscal 2025 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations has directed $2 million to fund the grant program of the Department of Labor’s Employee Ownership Initiative in the Fiscal 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.