The ESOP Association

ESOP Association Resources

Feb. 28
Welcome to your February issue of the ESOP ReportThis month we've packed the report with tons of articles and news about ESOPs that you won't want to miss!
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Feb. 27
The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) today voted to advance Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination for Secretary of Labor to the full Senate. The HELP Committee approved Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination in a bipartisan vote of 13-9, with Democratic Senators Maggie Hassan (NH), John Hickenlooper (CO), and Tim Kaine (VA) voting in favor and Republican Senator Rand Paul (KY) opposed. Her nomination will now advance to the full Senate where a vote could come as soon as next week. 
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Feb. 12
President Donald Trump today nominated Daniel Aronowitz, President of Encore Fiduciary and a leading expert with thirty years of experience on fiduciary issues, to be Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) at the U.S. Department of Labor. If confirmed, Aronowitz would be the lead regulator for ESOPs at the Department of Labor, as EBSA is tasked with administration and enforcement under ERISA. 
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Feb. 11
The ESOP Association, the only comprehensive national trade association representing businesses owned fully or partially by an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), launched a targeted paid media campaign this week in support of Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation to be Secreatary of Labor. The campaign will be sustained through her confirmation vote.
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Chapter News, Resource
Jan. 31
Review of 2017 government relations efforts.
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ESOP Blog, Resource
Jan. 31
I am hearing increasingly from certain thought leaders that current ESOP laws do not create “good” employee ownership plans.

Anytime we ESOP advocates encounter someone who takes such a view of ESOPs, we need to ask ourselves, “Why does that person think ESOPs are not good employee ownership plans?” When we know the answer, we can counter the ESOP cynic’s point of view.

In my experience, there are three main criticisms of ESOPs. I’ll deal with each one in a separate blog post.

The first criticism maintains that ESOPs are bad retirement plans.
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Resource, Press Releases
Jan. 21
For more than 28 years, Employee Ownership Month has been an opportunity for ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) companies across the nation to educate employee owners and the public about the undeniable benefits of employee ownership for employees, their companies, their communities, and the nation.
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ESOP Blog, Resource
Jan. 17
For some time now, the data have shown that businesses with employee stock ownership are clearly better than conventionally owned companies at retaining employees. But new insights gleaned from existing research data show that, over a period of 12 years, businesses with employee stock ownership have gotten increasingly and dramatically better than conventionally owned firms at retaining employees.

How much better? Try 235 percent better!
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Resource, ESOP Report, Legal Update, Ownership Advantage, Washington Report, DOL, Foundation, Compliance Testing, Communication, EBSA, Employee Ownership Month
Jan. 10
Shifting views on personal property just might open the door to greater employee ownership.
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ESOP Blog, Resource
Jan. 03
It would be easy for us to sit back and bask in the comfortable knowledge that the Congressional tax committees did not draft tax reform measures that negatively affect ESOPs.

Certainly, that is good news. But we can’t let that recent success cause us to remain ignorant of the fact there remain plenty of people who do not believe in the things that we believe—that ESOPs are good for our nation, our companies, and employees.

Sometimes that dislike for ESOPs can be harder to spot, because it is hidden under an apparent love for different forms of employee ownership.
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