Lobby Congress to Protect Stock Options for American Workers
Seventy Execs and Employees from High-Tech Companies Travel to DC for Stock Options Lobby Day "Fly-In" on March 31
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	Seeking Congressional action to block the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) from forcing mandatory expensing of stock options and employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs), AeA member companies brought a large delegation of employees and executives to Washington, DC for the second time in six months. The group split into ten teams for more than 70 meetings with Members of Congress, SEC Commissioners, and the White House. All this occurred on a day marked by several important developments surrounding FASB’s proposed action. First, after several years of consideration, the proposed expensing rule was finally released by FASB. And, late in the afternoon, while addressing AeA member company employees and executives, Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA) formally announced he will conduct a hearing on April 21 to review FASB’s proposed rules. Rep. Baker, chair of the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee responsible for oversight of the SEC, introduced the "Stock Option Accounting Reform Act," which has broad bipartisan support.
Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH), Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, listens during a meeting in his office with representatives from AeA member companies including Teresa Dean of Cree, Diane Cushman of Altera Corp, Michael Engleheart of Adobe, and Valerie Brodie of Epicor Software to discuss the importance of stock options for maintaining the competitive edge of high-tech companies.

The meetings were organized by AeA to bring the case against expensing directly to those Members of Congress who are either undecided or opposed to proposed legislation, with a specific focus on enlisting more cosponsors, particularly from Members of the relevant House and Senate subcommittees

In addition, the media has been following this issue very closely, and AeA high-tech company executives and employees participated in numerous media interviews throughout the day.

Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) meets with Jeff Solof, with Sun Microsystems Massachusetts operations.

AeA organized these fly-ins to set the record straight and convince Members of Congress to stop FASB. There has been a great deal of confusion and lack of awareness by many in Congress about the positive impact of stock options on rank-and-file high-tech employees. AeA’s lobby days have demonstrated that Congress wants to hear from high-tech workers, particularly those from smaller and mid-sized companies, who will be affected by FASB’s proposal to expense stock options.

The participation of AeA member company employees is, and will continue to be, critical to passing legislation to stop the proposed expensing of options. More than a dozen non-executive employees participated in the fly-in, and many offered compelling examples of how stock options are used by high-tech workers to help pay for such items as non-reimbursed family medical costs, college tuition, and support for elderly relatives.

AeA has been working hard since 1994 to bring attention to the difficulties that mandatory expensing will likely impose on high-tech companies. It is widely expected that expensing will curtail the ability of many companies - particularly mid-sized and start-up companies - to offer stock options to workers.

Jim Childress, LXE Corp of Georgia, meets with Rep. Johnny Isakson, (R-GA) along with Bret Bergman of QCept Inc. of Georgia.

AeA’s efforts have helped build momentum on this issue and have proven that the fight to protect stock options is far from over. Last autumn, the possibility of any House action seemed very remote. However, through sustained action by AeA and its high-tech member companies - including effective letter writing campaigns, a survey on stock option utilization and more than 200 lobbying visits in the past year - there are now 100 House cosponsors of Chairman Baker’s bipartisan stock option expensing bill.

On March 31, the executives and employees participated in dozens of appointments with Senators and Representatives. A partial list includes: Rep. Richard Oxley (R-OH), Rep. Bob Matsui (D-CA), Rep. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) and Rep. Jim Ryan. Teams of high-tech company representatives also met with SEC Commissioners Goldschmid and Glassman, and with Kevin Warsh, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

 
AeA New England representatives visit with Congressman Barney Frank (D-4th ), Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee. Shown above left to right are: David Roy, Vice President Investor Relations, Ascential Software Corp.; Jeff Solof, Director Editorial Office, Sun Microsystems, Inc.; Jay Bertelli, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.; Bill Martin, Treasurer, Analog Devices, Inc.; Paul Rice, Director Corporate Real Estate and Facility Services, Progress Software Corporation; Congressman Barney Frank; Jim Freedman, Vice President and General Counsel, Progress Software Corporation; Anne Doherty Johnson, Executive Director, AeA New England; Jill Maunder, Vice President, Human Resources, Ascential Software Corp.; Mike Selfridge, Northeast Region Manager, Silicon Valley Bank and John LaMountain, Corporate Treasurer, Avid Technology, Inc.

This page was last updated on 04/20/04.  
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