House Bill Seeks to Reduce Number of Frivolous ERISA Lawsuits 

On December 2, 2025, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce's Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing focused on the ERISA Litigation Reform Act (H.R. 6084), a bill introduced on November 18, 2025, by Representative Randy Fine (R-FL). The bill seeks to strengthen the pleading standards required to bring certain ERISA litigation actions. Specifically, the legislation would amend section 502 of ERISA by adding language requiring that in order to bring a prohibited transaction claim under section 406(a) of ERISA, a plaintiff would have "the burden of plausibly alleging and proving that the transaction is not exempt" under section 408(b)(2) (addressing contracting and other arrangements for plan services) or 408(e) (addressing acquisition or sale by a plan of qualifying employer securities or acquisition, sale, or lease by a plan of qualifying employer real property), depending on which exemption is relevant to the claim. The bill further provides that in civil actions brought under section 502 "against a plan or its fiduciaries, all discovery and other proceedings shall be stayed" while either a motion to dismiss or an answer under Rule 7(a)(7) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is pending, "unless the court finds, upon the motion of any party, that particularized discovery is necessary to preserve evidence or to prevent undue prejudice to that party."  

The bill, if enacted, would provide more certainty to ERISA plans and fiduciaries following the Supreme Court's decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University, which placed the burden on defendants to prove that a prohibited transaction exemption is applicable to a claim brought under section 406(a) of ERISA. The bill also attempts to curtail the undue expense and burden placed on defendants who are often forced to endure expensive and lengthy discovery while motions to dismiss are pending, regardless of how frivolous the claims may be. Congressman Fine described the bill as seeking to "strengthen[] fiduciary accountability while preventing meritless lawsuits from driving up plan costs and reducing workers' retirement security." As drafted, the bill would cover prohibited transaction claims alleged against health and welfare plan fiduciaries, in addition to those asserted against pension and retirement plan fiduciaries.

Bipartisan PBM Transparency Bill Introduced in Senate

On December 4, 2025, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced legislation in the Senate focused on bringing more transparency to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) business practices, their fees, and their contracting with health plans. The PBM Price Transparency and Accountability Act would:

• Delink PBM compensation from their negotiated rebates to disincentivize PBMs from promoting higher-priced medications
• Increase PBM reporting requirements to Medicare Part D plan sponsors and to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and empower Part D plan sponsors to audit their PBM for compliance with contract requirements
• Impose requirements that plan sponsors contract with any willing pharmacy that meets their standard contract terms and conditions 
• Require participation by retail community pharmacies in the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) survey
• Mandate PBMs pass Medicaid payments directly to pharmacies to ensure transparent drug costs for states and taxpayers

The bill is co-sponsored by 19 additional senators from both parties. It follows several other PBM reform bills introduced earlier this year and comes as the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) continues to work on a regulatory initiative to increase PBM fee transparency using the ERISA prohibited transaction rules and exemption provisions. According to the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) regulatory agenda, the DOL proposed rule was targeted for release in November 2025 but still awaits publication.

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