1Supporting the expansion of employee stock ownership plans in
2this Commonwealth.

3WHEREAS, The current economy has created increasingly deep
4disparities on the ownerships of productive wealth; and

5WHEREAS, A broader distribution of ownership through employee
6stock ownership plans (ESOPs) can be done in a manner that does
7not redistribute existing wealth, but rather helps generate new
8wealth more broadly owned; and

9WHEREAS, The Federal Government already provides substantial
10tax support for ESOPs, but the benefits of these plans are
11poorly understood among the business community; and

12WHEREAS, Broad-based employee ownership has been shown to
13make a significant contribution to the retention and creation of
14jobs; and

15WHEREAS, Business owners facing ownership transition often
16find an ESOP to be an ideal vehicle to sell their stock and
17maintain their companies in the community, but rarely know that

1these plans may be a practical and appealing approach to
2transferring ownership preferable to selling to outside
3interests or liquidation; and

4WHEREAS, Broad-based employee ownership plans would
5substantially improve the long-term financial security of
6families in this Commonwealth; therefore be it

7RESOLVED, That the Senate support the expansion of employee
8stock ownership plans in this Commonwealth.