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Non-Tech : The Enron Scandal - Unmoderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (2711)	6/29/2003 8:49:43 PM
From: Glenn Petersen	Respond to of 3602

SEC May Order Holder Stock-Pay Plan Votes story.news.yahoo.com Sun Jun 29, 5:37 PM ET ! WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. financial regulators were expected to order on Monday that corporations will have to start submitting some, but not all, stock-based pay plans to shareholders for a vote. Executives today can sometimes get millions of dollars in pay through stock-option plans without shareholder approval -- a situation blamed by some critics for abuses like those seen in scandals at Enron Corp. (Other OTC:ENRNQ - news) and elsewhere. Not all, but many stock-based plans would have to be cleared by shareholders under the proposed rules expected to win approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites). "We believe that all executive compensation plans should be subject to shareholder approval," said Brandon Rees, research analyst at the AFL-CIO, the labor federation, which has been active in lobbying for improved stockholder rights. "While shareholder approval of executive stock option plans is an important step, we believe other plans, such as golden parachutes and executive retirement plans, should also be subject to shareholder approval," Rees said. The rules were sent to the SEC for review as listing standards proposed by the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) and market regulator NASD. The SEC was still evaluating the standards on Friday, said sources close to the commission. But, the sources said, approval was near and the standards were expected to take effect on Monday. Loopholes in the standards would exempt some stock-based pay plans from shareholder vote, including plan for "inducement awards" -- or signing bonuses -- for new executive hires. Such awards would have to be publicly disclosed by the company. Some stock-option and other stock-based compensation plans related to mergers and acquisitions would also be exempt from shareholder voting, as would some employee pension plans.