S 979 · 108th Congress 2003–2005, ended

Broad-Based Stock Option Plan Transparency Act of 2003

Fact sheet

Latest action · May 1, 2003 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S5671)

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedMay 1, 2003
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Broad-Based Stock Option Plan Transparency Act of 2003 - Directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require that certain mandatory periodic reports include detailed information regarding stock option plans, stock purchase
plans, and other arrangements involving an employee acquisition of an equity interest in the publicly traded company, particularly with respect to the dilutive effect of such plans.

Requires such reports to include: (1) a discussion, written in "plain English" of the dilutive effect of stock option plans, including tables or graphic illustrations; (2) expanded disclosure of the dilutive effect of employee stock options upon the earnings per share number of the company; (3) prominent placement and increased comparability of all stock options related information; and (4) a summary of the stock options granted to the five most highly compensated executive officers of the company, including any outstanding stock options of those officers.

Directs the SEC to study and report to Congress on the effectiveness of the enhanced disclosures in increasing transparency to investors.

Prohibits the SEC from recognizing as generally accepted accounting principles for purposes of enforcing the securities laws any accounting standards related to the treatment of stock options that it did not recognize for that purpose before April 1, 2003.

Instructs the Secretary of Commerce to report to Congress on a study and analysis of broad-based employee stock option plans, particularly in the high technology and any other high growth industries.

Cosponsors 20

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 1, 2003 to May 18, 2004, with 15 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-CABarbara BoxerOriginalMay 1, 2003
R-MTConrad R. BurnsOriginalMay 1, 2003
D-MIDebbie StabenowOriginalMay 1, 2003
D-CADianne FeinsteinOriginalMay 1, 2003
R-VAGeorge AllenOriginalMay 1, 2003
R-ORGordon H. SmithOriginalMay 1, 2003
D-NVHarry ReidOriginalMay 1, 2003
R-VAJohn WarnerOriginalMay 1, 2003
R-IDLarry E. CraigOriginalMay 1, 2003
D-WAMaria CantwellOriginalMay 1, 2003
R-IDMike CrapoOriginalMay 1, 2003
R-MNNorm ColemanOriginalMay 1, 2003
D-WAPatty MurrayOriginalMay 1, 2003
R-UTRobert F. BennettOriginalMay 1, 2003
R-COWayne AllardOriginalMay 1, 2003

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. May 1, 2003Introduced in Senate
  2. May 1, 2003Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S5671)
  3. May 1, 2003Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5670-5671)

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector.

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.