Small Business Employee Ownership Act
Latest action. Referred to House Committee on Small Business.
(Reported to Senate from the Select Committee on Small Business with amendment, S. Rept. 96-93) Small Business Employee Ownership Act - Amends the Small Business Act to make employee-owned firms eligible for financial assistance under the business loan program. States that in the case of small business concerns using an employee stock ownership plan, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, all financial assistance shall be made to the trust created for employee ownership of stock (ESOT). Predicates such assistance on: (1) a guarantee by the company seeking assistance that it will repay all obligations incurred by the ESOT; (2) the satisfaction of the Small Business Administration that all funds acquired by the plan with the assistance of the Administration will be used solely in connection with the purchase of qualified employer securities, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, and that such funds will not be used to acquire the employer securities of another corporation or to finance any other enterprise; and (3) a distribution arrangement which assures all participants in the plan will have a non-forfeitable right to all employer securities acquired with the assistance of the Administration no later than the expiration date of such assistance. Authorizes the extension of loan guarantees to employee organizations or employee stock ownership plans to finance the acquisition of the employees workplace if it is a small business or a subsidiary which, if independently owned, would be a small business. States that such guarantees may be extended only if the small business or subsidiary would otherwise close, liquidate, relocate or sell out to a large business or if the owner agrees to the purchase by the employees. Requires an employee organization or the representative of a stock ownership plan to prepare a plan containing specified provisions for the acquisition of the concern or subsidiary in order to be eligible for such guarantees. Limits the principal amount of any loan guaranteed under this Act to $500,000. Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to report periodically to the Congress on the programs established by this Act. Authorizes the Small Business Administration to extend loan guarantees directly to an owner of a business who is selling the business to employees under an installment contract provided specified conditions are met in the event of default. Makes a company with 51 percent of its stock allocated through an ESOT to one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals eligible for the minority enterprise contract assistance program.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to Senate with amendment(s)" stage on April 24, 1979. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 3, 1979: Referred to House Committee on Small Business.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
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 96th Congress (1979-80), 613 of the 12,581 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, 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?
DONALD STEWART (D-AL) introduced it on February 8, 1979, and 22 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 10 Democrats, 12 Republicans.
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 February 8, 1979, 17381 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 17297 days ago, on May 3, 1979.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 96th Congress has not finished by January 3, 1981 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers