Empowering Employees through Stock Ownership Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate.
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on September 16, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Empowering Employees through Stock Ownership Act
(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an employee to elect to defer, for income tax purposes, income attributable to certain stock transferred to the employee by an employer.
The employee may defer the inclusion of income from the stock until the year that includes the earliest of the dates on which:
the stock becomes transferable;
the employee becomes an excluded employee;
stock of the corporation becomes readily tradable on an established securities market;
seven years have passed after the rights of the employee in the stock are transferable or are not subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture, whichever occurs earlier; or
the employee revokes the election with respect to the stock.
The stock must meet specified requirements and be transferred to the employee from an eligible corporation in connection with the performance of services as an employee.
A corporation is eligible if: (1) no stock of the corporation or a predecessor of the corporation is readily tradable on an established securities market during any preceding calendar year, and (2) it has a written plan under which at least 80% of all employees who provide services to the corporation in the United States (or a U.S. possession) are granted stock options, or restricted stock units, with the same rights and privileges to receive qualified stock.
Employees are excluded if they: (1) are a 1% owner, the chief executive officer, or the chief financial officer of the corporation or have been at any time during the 10 preceding calendar years; (2) are a family member of the specified individuals; or (3) have been one of the four highest compensated officers of the corporation during any of the 10 preceding taxable years.
The corporation transferring stock must notify employees regarding the option of deferring income and meet specified withholding and reporting requirements.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on September 22, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Received in the Senate.
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Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
The latest action on file does not map to a stage Civibrief recognizes, so the page will not name one. The record's own words are the reliable fact here.
The record's latest action, on September 26, 2016: Received in the Senate.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one has no outstanding steps listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Erik Paulsen (R-MN) introduced it on July 11, 2016, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 11, 2016, 3713 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3636 days ago, on September 26, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseReceived in the Senate.
- SenateNot stated in the latest action
- PresidentNot stated in the latest action