IV

107TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 300

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the economic collapse of Enron

Corporation.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 23, 2002

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas submitted the following concurrent resolution;

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the economic

collapse of Enron Corporation.

Whereas the economic collapse of Enron Corporation caused

the layoff of thousands of employees and devastated the

retirement savings of many of the company’s employees

and retirees who were invested in the company’s retirement plan, which qualified for favorable tax treatment

under section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code of

1986;

Whereas employees who participated in the company’s section

401(k) retirement plan received matching contributions

from the company in the form of Enron stock;

Whereas the company’s executives allegedly engaged in extensive selling of Enron stock prior to the company’s collapse;
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Whereas those executives allegedly failed to alert company

employees participating in the company’s section 401(k)

retirement plan of the reasons that the executives were

extensively selling Enron stock;

Whereas allegedly the company’s public financial disclosures

were insufficiently transparent to allow outside analysts

to give an accurate opinion regarding the value of Enron

stock;

Whereas the inadequacy of those financial disclosures allegedly resulted in inflated ratings by analysts of Enron

stock;

Whereas allegedly even after the sudden resignation or dismissal of top executives at the company, the financial

firms that were underwriters of the company were slow

to downgrade their ratings for Enron stock;

Whereas during late October and November of 2001, the financial firms that were advising the company with respect to a potential merger, and who stood to earn large

fees from such a transaction, maintained positive ratings

for Enron stock;

Whereas days before the company filed for bankruptcy, the

company’s auditing firm, allegedly instructed its employees to destroy most of their documents related to the

company;

Whereas Congress has a responsibility to act to protect investors, workers, innocent victims, including children and

families, and the independence of financial analysts and

auditors; and

Whereas Congress should act with all deliberate speed and

diligence to protect the people of the United States and
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the integrity of the employment and retirement systems:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring),

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Employees and

5 Retirees Restoration and Assistance Resolution of 2002’’.

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

7 It is the sense of Congress that—

8 (1) a timely and thorough investigation should

9 be undertaken into the alleged wrongdoings related

10 to the economic collapse of Enron Corporation;

11 (2) any person, including any auditor, financial

12 analyst, Enron executive, accounting company, or

13 other company or partnership, who is found to have

14 illegally withheld information or disseminated mis15 leading information regarding Enron’s financial con16 dition should fully compensate the company’s em17 ployees who participated in the company’s section

18 401(k) retirement plan for any losses suffered by

19 such employees as a result of such illegal conduct;

20 and

21 (3) every effort should be made to provide fi22 nancial assistance to the workers laid off as a result

23 of Enron’s economic collapse.

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