Jane Harman: “I am pleased to join in the bipartisan effort to clarify and improve upon the safe-harbor language contained in the…”

“I am pleased to join in the bipartisan effort to clarify and improve upon the safe-harbor language contained in the securities litigation reform bill. Investors, the SEC, and securities analysts all agree that forward-looking information, that is, information about a company's future prospects, is critically important to investors. Such information is particularly important to investors of high-technology, high-growth companies, whose very existence pushes the boundaries of technology that are essential to our economy's future growth. By their very nature, the statements of these companies involve a future product, innovation, or technology whose performance is subject to the vagaries of the economy. By their very definition, projections of performance are inherently uncertain and it is often inevitable that the company will fail to meet one or more analysts' expectations. When these companies fail to meet analysts' expectations, they often face abusive lawsuits, which sap resources that could otherwise be used for research, product promotion, and market development. As a consequence, corporate executives have been increasingly reluctant to make forward-looking statements.”