Employee Ownership and Congress in 2010

As I noted in my last update, several bills to encourage employee ownership were introduced in 2009. One I did not mention was H.R. 692, introduced by Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). The bill would exclude from gross income any compensation received by employees in the form of employer stock that is held for at least 10 years. It appears aimed mostly at stock grants in public companies.

Overall, the important thing to note is that of all the bills that have been introduced, there is no active legislation or, as far as we know, administration consideration of proposals to cut back on tax benefits for any kind of broad-based employee ownership plan.

The controversy over executive compensation is likely to continue, and legislation requiring say on pay seems likely, but other than that, I think it is very unlikely that Congress will do anything on employee ownership this year. With an already over-full agenda, an election year, and a focus among many legislators, pundits, and even voters on political point scoring rather than actually legislating, this seems like a very safe prediction.