On the recordMarch 22, 2012
Madam President, shortly, we will be voting on my amendment, which will maintain the House's increase in the number of shareholders at 2,000 in order to remain private. But what I do is actually ensure that the shareholders are the real shareholders; that there is not an intermediary holding the stock in the name of perhaps literally hundreds of shareholders, but they are the real shareholders. There has been some criticism about the affect it will have on ESOPs, private funds, mutual funds, and others. We have been assured by legal experts it doesn't affect any of these funds or entities. In addition, the SEC has assured us that it, through rulemaking, can clarify that ESOPs, mutual funds, private funds, and other entities similar to these will not be affected. I believe if a company has 2,000 real shareholders, those shareholders should have access to routine information on a regular basis, and that is the thrust of this amendment. Shareholder Threshold
