Research

Administrative History

Annual financial statements were required to be filed with the Insurance Department, according to Article III-A, Section 37-g of the Insurance Law, which states that "the trustees of every employee welfare fund shall file in the office of the superintendent annually within 5 months after the close of the fiscal year used in maintaining the records of such funds a statement, to be known as the annual statement of such fund . . . showing its conditions and affairs during such fiscal year."

The Welfare Fund Bureau of the Insurance Department was responsible for the registration and supervision of all welfare and pension funds (with the exception of those registered with the Banking Department) and for auditing the annual statements of those funds. In 1974, Congress passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and responsibility for the regulation of these funds was transferred from the State Insurance Department to the U.S. Department of Labor.