Month: July 2003

Reish Luftman McDaniel & Reicher provides this article: Taking Stock: Managing the Risk of Company Stock. The article provides some good suggestions for minimizing ERISA fiduciary risk where a 401(k) offers company stock as a match and/or as an investment option.

(Note: The article does not discuss plan governance structure or procedural prudence which, in my opinion, are also very important in minimizing ERISA fiduciary liability.)

Gardner Carton & Douglas provides the following updates:

• Investments in Employee Stock Ownership Plans Clarified Through Recent Developments
• Executive Compensation Update

Articles on the events of yesterday regarding the House Ways and Means Committee mark-up of the Portman-Cardin Bill (HR 1776):

• The Washington Post: “The House That Roared: In Ways and Means Brawl, Names, Police and Sergeant at Arms Are Called.”
• New York Times: “Sound, Fury, Pension Rules: Nasty Party Clash in House.”
• Reuters via Yahoo! News.com: “Tempers Flare in House Over Pension Bill.”
• The Associated Press via Yahoo! News.com: “House Melts Down After Pension Flap.”

The most important statement, in my opinion, came from the Washington Post article:

The bill passed the committee with no Democratic votes. “I’ve been here nine years, and this is one of the saddest days we’ve had in the House,” said Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.). “What has happened to the Democrats is shameful; it’s embarrassing to our party. I’m sad for our party, and I’m sad for the House.”

The Post also reports:

“This is simple, serious and sad,” said Ways and Means member Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.), adding that both parties made mistakes that were “destructive to the body.”

Ironically, the Post also reports that many Democrats support the “bill that sparked yesterday’s furor.”

Kilpatrick Stockton LLP provides this analysis of the final catch up regulations–“Final Catch Up Regulations Issued“–as well as this analysis of the proposed 411(d)(6) regulations–“IRS Proposed to Eliminate Advance Notice of Anti-Cutback Regulations.”

Steve Gillmor’s reflections on RSS are captivating: “The Sound of Silence.” (Thanks to Dennis Kennedy for the link.)

Thank you, Benefitslink, for these invaluable resources:

• Text of ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits 2003 Q&As with SEC Officials
• Text of ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits 2003 Q&As with Internal Revenue Service Officials

These Q&As have some important information in them (for instance, you might want to check out items 8, 17 and 18 of the IRS Q&As.)

Robert Ambrogi at Law Sites provides this wonderful column and great resource: “A Brief Summary: Free Briefs on the Web.”

Arden Dale for the Dow Jones Newswire via SmartMoney.com reports that “Companies Face Changes In Pension Accounting.”