Senate Panel Approves Legislation to Grow Employee Ownership (1)

Legislation setting uniform employee stock ownership plan valuation standards and creating a new office for worker-ownership issues cleared a Senate labor committee as federal lawmakers show growing interest in ESOPs.

The Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions voted unanimously Wednesday to advance both the Retire Through Ownership (S. 2403) and Employee Ownership Representation (S. 1728) Acts alongside a suite of other proposed legislation.

ESOPs have caught rare, bipartisan attention as major industry groups make their case for easing up regulatory controls in Washington to promote more plan development. Meanwhile, the industry’s top US Labor Department ...