The Department of Labor (DOL) has released its Spring 2025 regulatory agenda, and for those of us in the retirement plan industry, it reads like a greatest hits playlist — ESG, fiduciary rule, auto-portability, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), electronic disclosure, lost and found, ESOPs, and yes, even IB 95-1.
The DOL framed this agenda as “a set of high-priority actions designed to reduce unnecessary burdens on employers and employees.” That’s the nice way of saying: changes are coming, and whether they’ll actually reduce burdens depends on where you sit in the industry.
ESG: The Never-Ending Ping-Pong Match
ESG is back on the table. The DOL intends to finalize a new rule by May 2026 that would ensure fiduciaries only consider financial factors when selecting investments or exercising proxy voting rights. The message is clear: no advancing social causes under the guise of fiduciary duty.
Conservatives have long argued ESG is politics dressed up as risk management. While the Biden rule in 2023 made it easier to use non-financial factors as tiebreakers, the Trump administration seems poised to tighten the screws again. For plan sponsors, this means the ESG conversation will continue to be less about investments themselves and more about how the political winds blow.
Fiduciary Rule: Here We Go Again
If you’ve lost track of how many versions of the fiduciary rule we’ve had, you’re not alone. Biden’s “Retirement Security Rule,” finalized in April 2024, extended ERISA fiduciary duties to one-time advice like rollovers and annuity purchases. That rule is still tangled in litigation in the 5th Circuit.
The Trump administration says a new final rule is on the way by May 2026, promising it will be “based on the best reading of the statute” and aligned with deregulation goals. Translation: expect a rollback or rewrite. Every time this pendulum swings, providers and advisors are left trying to adjust compliance frameworks yet again.
Auto-Portability: Getting Closer
Auto-portability — the process of automatically rolling over small accounts when participants change jobs — has been promised for years. The agenda indicates a final rule by January 2026. Whether it builds on Biden’s 2024 proposal remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: recordkeepers and TPAs need to prepare for more operational complexity.
Independent Contractors: A Hot-Button Issue
The DOL is targeting September 2025 for a new proposal on defining employees versus independent contractors. Any changes here could ripple into retirement plan coverage, especially for industries heavily reliant on gig workers. The expectation? It will become easier to classify workers as contractors, reducing employer obligations.
PBMs: Transparency on the Horizon
By November 2025, the DOL aims to propose rules that would improve transparency around the direct and indirect compensation PBMs receive from employer health plans. While not strictly retirement-focused, this signals the DOL’s ongoing push for fee and cost transparency — a theme that crosses over to retirement plans.
Electronic Disclosure: Deregulation in Disguise?
The agenda suggests new regulations on electronic disclosure for health and welfare plans by May 2026, pitched as a “deregulatory action.” If that’s true, plan sponsors could get more flexibility in how they communicate, which would be a welcome change given how outdated some notice rules feel in 2025.
Lost and Found: Still in the Works
Remember the Retirement Savings Lost and Found database promised by SECURE 2.0? The DOL now says regulations for data collection will come by April 2026. The concept is great — participants shouldn’t lose track of their savings — but we’ve been waiting for the infrastructure to catch up.
ESOPs: Adequate Consideration
By January 2026, the DOL could issue a new rule on the adequate consideration of shares in ESOPs. This has always been a thorny area, with valuation disputes at the heart of countless lawsuits. Providers in the ESOP space should watch this closely.
IB 95-1: Pension Risk Transfers Under Review
Lastly, IB 95-1, which governs fiduciary considerations in pension risk transfers, could see new amendments by April 2026. Given the recent uptick in pension risk transfers, an update here would be timely, but it could also raise the compliance bar for sponsors looking to offload liabilities.
Final Thoughts
The DOL’s regulatory agenda is never light reading, and this one is no exception. While agendas are not binding and often move slower than promised, the themes are clear: ESG will stay political, the fiduciary rule is a moving target, transparency remains a focus, and operational rules like auto-portability and lost and found are slowly taking shape.
For plan providers, the best strategy is the same as always: stay nimble, prepare for change, and remember that just because a rule is on the agenda doesn’t mean it’s arriving on time. If there’s anything my years in the retirement plan business have taught me, it’s that DOL timelines age about as well as milk left out in the sun.