Bankruptcy trustees get first raise in 31 years, funded by fee reallocation
S. 3424 — Bankruptcy Administration Improvement Act of 2025 · Filed by Christopher Coons (D-DE) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 10, 2025 · Signed
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill doubles Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee compensation from $60 to $120 per case (the first increase since 1994), extends temporary bankruptcy judge positions from 5 to 10 years, and rebalances how bankruptcy filing fees are distributed among the court system, the U.S. Trustee System, and the general Treasury. The bill is funded entirely through existing bankruptcy fees—no new taxes—and explicitly preserves courts' authority to waive fees for indigent filers.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a fee-revenue redistribution that increases trustee pay and extends judge appointments, funded entirely within the self-supporting bankruptcy fee system. It is administrative modernization, not a new tax or subsidy.
What the text implies
- Trustee compensation increase may improve case administration quality and asset recovery rates, potentially benefiting both government creditors (IRS, SBA) and private creditors, though the bill does not quantify expected recovery improvements.
- Extension of temporary bankruptcy judge positions from 5 to 10 years reduces the frequency of reauthorization debates and may provide judicial stability, but also delays any future reassessment of judicial staffing needs.
- Reallocation of fees away from the general Treasury ($5.4M annually through 2031) and toward the U.S. Trustee System Fund may signal a shift in bankruptcy system funding philosophy toward full cost-recovery from users rather than general taxpayer support.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Bankruptcy filers and creditors benefit from better-compensated trustees who can more effectively administer cases and recover assets. The compensation increase is funded by reallocation of existing fees, not new charges on filers. Fee-waiver authority for indigent filers is explicitly preserved, protecting access to bankruptcy for low-income individuals.
Who stands to gain
- Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees (increased compensation)
- U.S. Trustee System (increased fee allocation)
- Bankruptcy courts (stable funding through extended judge appointments)
Named in the bill
Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees, U.S. Trustee System, Bankruptcy courts, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Agriculture, Small Business Administration, Section 330 of title 11, United States Code, Section 1930 of title 28, United States Code, Section 589a of title 28, United States Code, Bankruptcy Administration Improvement Act of 2020, Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Dec 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Dec 10, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed/agreed to in Senate: Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed…”
- Jan 12, 2026 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H627)”
- Jan 12, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Cline moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
- Feb 3, 2026 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
- Feb 6, 2026 — Signed into law · Congress.gov: “Became Public Law No: 119-76”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 4 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Christopher Coons, the sponsor, reported $1,402,800 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 19, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (8,905 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 19, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Bankruptcy trustees get first raise in 31 years, funded by fee reallocation” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s3424 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.