Trump signs ESOP valuation bill with good-faith defense for fiduciaries

President Donald Trump signed the Retire Through Ownership Act into law Thursday, giving ESOP fiduciaries statutory cover to rely in good faith on an independent appraisal prepared under IRS Revenue Ruling 59-60.

The law answers claims in ESOP litigation that company stock was improperly valued or that an insider benefited from a transaction. To qualify for the defense, the appraiser must be independent and follow the 59-60 principles used to determine fair market value.

Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, and Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, introduced the Senate version in July 2025; the Senate passed it unanimously that October. The House passed the Senate text 401-14 on September 16, 2026. James Bonham, president and CEO of the ESOP Association, called it the “most important ESOP law enacted in decades” in a statement Thursday.

Because the provision is prospective, the existing docket barely moves while valuation firms absorb the new risk. The defense is procedural, and its practical effect is to shift valuation challenges toward appraisers rather than settle what a share is worth.

For plan sponsors and the advisers who hire appraisers, the engagement itself becomes the compliance record: which 59-60 factors the appraiser weighed, and whether the fiduciary documented its reliance on them.

The Social Security Claiming Age Clarity Act, which would relabel claiming ages as “minimum, standard and maximum monthly benefit” instead of “early, full and delayed retirement,” was awaiting the president's signature as of Friday afternoon. The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is projected to reach insolvency in the third quarter of 2032, and none of the bills introduced to address that shortfall have left committee.