ESCA Testimony to the House Committee On Small Business

For Immediate Release:

April 27, 2016

Home News ESCA Testimony to the House Committee On Small Business

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Messer Construction’s Chairman Emeritus and ESCA Board Member Pete Strange and ESCA President and Executive Director Stephanie Silverman will testify today at the House Committee on Small Business’ hearing on H.R. 2096, the Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2015. This bipartisan bill along with its Senate counterpart have nearly 100 co-sponsors and will help more Americans save by expanding the availability of S-corporation Employee Stock Ownership Plans (S-ESOPs), which provide more than 470,000 Americans a powerful tool to achieve retirement security.

Strange will testify, “Our country’s investment in ESOPs allowed ninety-nine Messer employees to purchase our future; and the engagement that opportunity created has resulted in growth. Today, operating from nine regional offices, Messer performs more than a billion dollars in construction annually and provides retirement assets for over 1000 employees totaling more than $220,000,000.”

H.R. 2096 includes the following key provisions:

Silverman will testify, “Congress passed legislation creating S ESOPs twenty years ago to encourage employee ownership of private industry, enable workers to benefit from their labor, and create a path for building meaningful retirement savings. Data shows that today, S ESOPs are doing exactly that. Twenty years later, private employee-owned companies have been a remarkable success story, a bright spot in an economy characterized by sluggish growth, anemic job creation, and worker insecurity.”

Earlier this month, ESCA released voter opinion polling data from Morning Consult finding that two-thirds of Americans were more likely to vote for Members of Congress who support legislation making it easier for employees to have an ownership stake in their businesses.

H.R. 2096 currently has 66 cosponsors, including 43 Republicans and 23 Democrats. A similar bipartisan bill, S. 1212, is under consideration in the Senate. It currently has 28 cosponsors, nearly evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.

The full text of H.R. 2096 can be read here. The full text of S. 1212 can be read here. The hearing can be streamed live here.

The Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (“ESCA”) is the Washington, DC voice for employee-owned S corporations. ESCA’s exclusive mission is to preserve and protect S corporation ESOPs and the benefits they provide to the employees who own them. These companies have an important story to tell policymakers about the tremendous success of the S ESOP structure in generating long-term retirement savings for working Americans and their families. ESCA provides the vehicle and the voice for these efforts. ESCA represents employee-owners in every state in the nation.

Latest News