Anti-Expensing Bill Makes Progress

The "Broad-Based Stock Option Plan Transparency Act" (H.R. 3574), sponsored by Rep. Richard Baker and over 100 bipartisan cosponsors, has gained additional momentum in the House of Representatives, where it now appears likely that the House Financial Services Committee may vote on the matter some time this spring. Passage is uncertain in committee, but looks increasingly promising. The full House could vote by early summer. Even if the bill passes the House, however, it faces stiff opposition in the Senate, where the chair and ranking minority member of the Senate Banking Committee have so far not agreed to hold any hearings and have promised not to move a bill.