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On March 29, the House passed the SECURE 2.0 Act (H.R. 2954), which makes two minor improvements for ESOPs plus other changes aimed at making it easier for employers and employees to assure retirement plans work more effectively. Some of these will affect ESOPs.

On February 12, the House Committee on Small Business will hold a hearing titled "Challenges and Benefits of Employee-Owned Small Businesses." The hearing, which will begin at 11:30 am, will be live-streamed.

By a 29-21 party-line vote, the House Education and Labor Committee has passed H.R. 7310, the Protecting America’s Retirement Security Act. The bill now will go to the full House. There is no current Senate companion bill. The bill contains a handful of provisions, most notably requirements for fee disclosure in retirement plans, the creation of a federal personal finance education portal, increased requirements for spousal consent requirements in defined contribution plans, and making automatic deferrals to a 401(k) plan continue by default unless an affirmative action to end them is made.

Since the Main Street Employee Ownership Act (MSEOA) was signed into law in August 2018, the NCEO and others in the field have questioned whether its implementation matched Congress's intent to promote employee ownership. A House appropriation bill committee report now makes clear that the SBA has a mandate to implement the MSEOA's directives.

The House Appropriations Committee urged the SBA to fully implement the Main Street Employee Ownership Act (MSEOA), which was passed in 2018 but has seen only limited use because the SBA issued standard operating procedures that directly undermine the intent of the Act.

On March 29, Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI) introduced the "Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2011." The bill is cosponsored by Reps. David G. Reichert (R-WA), Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (R-LA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Erik Paulsen (R-MN), and Bill Pascrell (D-NJ).

The House has voted to make the increased limits on employee and employee contributions to defined contribution plans permanent. Under current law, the increased limits as part of the 2001 tax bill would expire in 2010.

The retirement reform bill passed by the House includes a provision that prohibits the IRS from imposing planned withholding requirements for ISOs and ESPPs.

By a vote of 220-205, the House passed the Mental Health Matters Act.