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To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to establish a grant program to enable law students to assist participants and beneficiaries in certain civil enforcement actions, and for other purposes.
Summary
- Establishes a grant program for accredited law schools to operate attorney-supervised clinical programs and pro bono programs for law students to assist participants and beneficiaries with employee benefit plan issues.
- Allows grantees to use funds to provide representation in benefit denial appeals, civil enforcement actions under ERISA, and other benefit-related disputes.
- Allows grantees to use a portion of grants to pay for supervisory attorneys.
- Limits grants to $500,000 per institution per fiscal year.
- Requires Department of Labor benefit advisors to coordinate with law school programs and provide participants and beneficiaries with lists of participating institutions.
- Authorizes $5 million per year in appropriations for fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Courtney, Joe [D-CT-2] (D-CT)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Joe Courtney’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $24,020
- ELECTRIC BOAT $15,150
- GENERAL DYNAMICS ELECTRIC BOAT $12,000
- BIRDON $6,650
- CEDAR ISLAND MARINA $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Joe Courtney → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jul 16, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. · house
- Jul 16, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 16, 2026
Mr. Courtney introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to establish a grant program to enable law students to assist participants and beneficiaries in certain civil enforcement actions, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Clinics for Law students Investigating and Navigating Claims Assistance Act” or the “CLINIC Assistance Act”.
SEC. 2. ERISA CLINICS.
Part 5 of title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C.1131 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“SEC. 525. ERISA CLINICS AND PRO BONO PROGRAMS.
“(a) Establishment of Grant Program.—The Secretary shall provide grants to eligible institutions for the purpose of planning, developing, or operating an attorney-supervised clinical program, externship, or pro bono program for law students to improve access to benefits under employee welfare benefit plans.
“(b) Use of Funds.—
“(1) In general.—An eligible institution that receives a grant under this section may use such grant to support programs through which participants and beneficiaries of employee welfare benefit plans can receive representation—
“(A) in appeals of benefit denials, including through the internal claims procedure and external review process of the plan;
“(B) in actions brought under section 502;
“(C) in actions brought against a participant or beneficiary by a health care provider or facility regarding unpaid out-of-pocket costs; and
“(D) in any other action relating to—
“(i) the enforcement of title I of this Act; and
“(ii) the receipt of benefits under employee welfare benefit plans, as determined by the Secretary.
“(2) Supervisory attorneys.—In addition to the uses specified in paragraph (1), an eligible institution that receives a grant under this section may use a portion of such grant to pay the costs of providing an attorney to supervise a program supported by such grant.
“(c) Eligible Institution.—In this section, the term ‘eligible institution’ means an accredited law school that is, or is operated by, an institution of higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))).
“(d) Application.—To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, an eligible institution shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require.
“(e) Amount.—The Secretary may not award more than $500,000 to an eligible institution for any fiscal year.
“(f) EBSA Coordination.—
“(1) In general.—The Secretary shall require benefit advisors of the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the Department of Labor to coordinate with eligible institutions operating a program described in subsection (a) to assist participants and beneficiaries in challenging denied benefit claims.
“(2) Information sharing.—Such benefit advisors may provide participants and beneficiaries with a list of eligible institutions that operate a program described in subsection
(a).
“(g) Consumer Assistance Programs.—A program supported under subsection (b)(1) may coordinate with, and make referrals to, a State office of health insurance consumer assistance, health insurance ombudsman, or other program that carries out the duties described in section 2793(c) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg- 93(c)).
“(h) Authorization of Appropriations.—There are authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 to carry out this section for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.”. <all>
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