Husted joins bipartisan bill to boost Americans’ retirement savings and support businesses

WASHINGTON – Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) has joined Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Maggie Hassan’s (D-N.H.) Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2025. This bipartisan bill would increase employees’ retirement savings by removing tax and regulatory barriers that prevent S corporations from shifting the ownership of a business to its employees through Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). This shift gives employees a direct stake in the business and a stronger path to retirement security.

“An ESOP is good for employees and local communities because it gives workers an ownership stake that builds retirement and job security, while keeping businesses rooted locally and strengthening community prosperity,” said Husted. “It’s good for Ohio small business-owners, their employees and communities when a company is sold to employees rather than private equity firms that have no stake in the community.”

Research shows that 47% of U.S. private sector workers do not have an employee-sponsored retirement account. ESOPs provide a qualified retirement plan to all participating employees by offering retirement income and tax advantages.

The bill would:

• Offer a tax incentive that encourages owners of S corporations to sell their stock to an ESOP, as long as they reinvest the sale proceeds in specific types of investments within a defined timeframe. This approach makes selling their stock to an ESOP a financially appealing option for current owners.
• Provide technical assistance for companies that may be interested in forming an S-ESOP.
• Ensure that small businesses that adopt ESOP structures retain their SBA certification.
• Affirm the importance of preserving the S-ESOP structure in the Internal Revenue Code.
• Establish the position of an “Employee Ownership Advocate” at the Department of Labor to support the formation and success of employee ownership. 

Full text of the bill is available here.