On the recordMarch 7, 2012
This will give those employees an exemption, so a company that's growing, that's actually in some ways, to use a term that's often used around here, ``spreading the wealth'' inside that organization and encouraging folks to vest their time and their talents in what are often speculative ventures as the company is growing--this lifts that cap, but it also raises it to 1,000 shareholders. There may be an amendment to come that raises that up to 2,000, and that is something I will support. That last thing here is, in committee we also heard discussion last year of why should community banks, why should we raise their shareholder limit to 2,000? We actually had some community banks come to us and say, look, we've been around here many, many, many, many years. We have legacy stockholders in the company. We're at that 500 share, but because of our long history, we can no longer raise the capital, the equity capital that's necessary. And that's why that concept is so important, raising that to 2,000 shareholders.
