[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3270 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3270
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow certain qualified
over-the-counter securities to be treated as readily traded on an
established securities market for the purpose of diversification
requirements for employee stock ownership plans.
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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 11, 2020
Mr. Tillis (for himself and Mr. Peters) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
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A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow certain qualified
over-the-counter securities to be treated as readily traded on an
established securities market for the purpose of diversification
requirements for employee stock ownership plans.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``2020 ESOP Fairness Act''.
SEC. 2. CERTAIN SECURITIES TREATED AS PUBLICLY TRADED.
(a) In General.--Paragraph (35) of section 401(a) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new
subparagraph:
``(I) Rules relating to publicly traded
securities.--For purposes of this paragraph--
``(i) In general.--The term `publicly
traded employer securities' means employer
securities which are readily tradable on an
established securities market.
``(ii) Special rule.--A security shall be
treated as described in clause (i) if the
security--
``(I) is the subject of priced
quotations by at least 2 dealers,
published and made continuously
available on an interdealer quotation
system (as such term is used in section
13 of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934) which has made the request
described in section 6(j) of such Act
to be treated as an alternative trading
system,
``(II) is not a penny stock (as
defined by section 3(a)(51) of such
Act),
``(III) is issued by a company
which is not a shell company (as such
term is used in section 4(d)(6) of the
Securities Act of 1933) or a blank
check company (as defined in section
7(b)(3) of such Act), and is not
subject to bankruptcy proceedings,
``(IV) in the case of a security
issued by a company incorporated in the
United States, the issuer publishes,
not less frequently than annually,
financial statements audited by an
independent auditor registered with the
Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board established under the Sarbanes-
Oxley Act of 2002, and
``(V) in the case of a security
issued by a company incorporated
outside of the United States, the
issuer--
``(aa) is subject to the
reporting requirements of
sections 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(15 U.S.C. 78m or 78o(d)),
``(bb) is subject to the
reporting requirements of
section 230.257 of title 17,
Code of Federal Regulations, or
``(cc) is exempt from such
requirements under section
240.12g3-2(b) of title 17, Code
of Federal Regulations, and
has published all information which is
required by such Act or Rule, as
applicable, to be publicly
available.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Subparagraph (G) of section 401(a)(35)
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking clause (v)
and by redesignating clause (vi) as clause (v).
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to plan years beginning after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
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