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The House Budget Committee has approved a $500 million pilot program as part of its final markup of a $25 billion bill for the Small Business Administration (SBA).

As reported earlier, the Senate eliminated section 133 of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 133 allows lenders to ESOPs that own more than 50% of a company's shares and pass through full voting rights to exclude 50% of the interest income on ESOP loans from taxable earnings.

The 2013 National Compensation Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 8% of private sector employees, or 9.2 million employees, are in what the BLS defines as "stock option" plans.

In a December article, Defined contribution retirement plans: Who has them and what do they cost?, Eli R.

Burlington Industries, NationsBank, and Morgan Stanley have agreed to pay $8.8 million each to settle a class action lawsuit brought by a group of Burlington employees. After legal fees are deducted, the remaining amount will go into Burlington's ESOP for current and former employees.

The Bush Administration has dropped its sweeping proposals for reforming retirement plan law. Prospects for the idea resurfacing in the future seem small.

President Bush told the Wall Street Journal (4/9/02) that he opposes proposals to prevent companies from taking a tax deduction for stock options they have not previously charged to earnings on their income statements.

President Bush weighed in on the company stock in retirement plan issue with a moderate proposal apparently limited to 401(k) plans (legislative details are not available). The main provisions are:

The magazine Business Insurance recently listed the 15 best mid-sized companies to work for in the field as of 2014.

In a March 14 cover story, Business Week lauded the progress United Airlines has made as a participative, employee-owned company. The article pointed out how work teams throughout the company have saved huge amounts of money.