I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6851 
To require major corporations receiving Federal aid related to COVID–19 
to make annual payments of equity to employees of the corporation 
while such aid is outstanding, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 13, 2020 
Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To require major corporations receiving Federal aid related 
to COVID–19 to make annual payments of equity to 
employees of the corporation while such aid is out-
standing, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. EQUITY PAYMENTS TO EMPLOYEES WHILE RE-
CEIVING FEDERAL AID. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any major corporation that re-
ceives Federal aid related to COVID–19 shall, until the 
date on which all such Federal aid is repaid to the Federal 
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Government, make an annual grant of equity to the em-
ployees of the corporation as provided under this section. 
(b) PAYMENT AMOUNT.— 
(1) TOTAL AMOUNT.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The aggregate number 
of shares of stock granted by a corporation 
under this section with respect to a year shall, 
as a percentage of the corporation’s total shares 
outstanding, be equal to or greater than the 
prior annual stock grant percentage. 
(B) PRIOR
ANNUAL
STOCK
GRANT
PER-
CENTAGE.—In this paragraph, the term ‘‘prior 
annual stock grant percentage’’ means the aver-
age, over the 3 years preceding January 1, 
2020, of the annual total number of shares of 
stock in any equity plans of the corporation and 
shares underlying any stock option plans of the 
corporation, taken together, as a percent to the 
corporation’s total shares outstanding. 
(2) INDIVIDUAL AMOUNTS.—The equity grant 
for each individual employee shall be at least in pro-
portion to a formula taking into account that em-
ployee’s salary adjusted for tenure with each year of 
tenure counting equally, and with a wage limit of 
$137,700. 
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(c) OTHER REQUIREMENTS AND AUTHORITIES.— 
(1) FORM OF GRANT.—A grant of equity under 
this section shall be a grant of whole shares of stock 
through a restricted stock plan, a leveraged or non- 
leveraged Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or a 
stock bonus plan. 
(2) PROHIBITION ON CONDITIONS.—A grant of 
equity to an employee under this section may not be 
conditioned on the purchase of company stock or 
any employee performance evaluations of any kind. 
(3) VOTING
AND
DIVIDEND
RIGHTS.—Equity 
granted under this section shall be equal, in terms 
of voting rights and dividend rights, to the class of 
securities of the corporation other than those issued 
under this section that carry the highest voting 
rights and dividend rights. 
(4) RIGHT TO USE FEDERAL AID.—In the case 
of a leveraged Employee Stock Ownership Plan, the 
Federal aid related to COVID–19 may be used by 
the corporation to finance the Employee Stock Own-
ership Plan. 
(d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 
Congress that annual grants of equity made under this 
section should not substitute for any wages or benefits of 
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any kind that were part of the total compensation of an 
employee in the year before such grants are received. 
(e) RULEMAKING; ENFORCEMENT.—The Securities 
and Exchange Commission shall issue such rules as may 
be necessary to carry out this section and may enforce 
the requirements of this section. 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this Section: 
(1) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’— 
(A) means any full-time or part-time em-
ployee in good standing working for the cor-
poration on the date of the receipt of Federal 
aid related to COVID–19; and 
(B) does not include— 
(i) any individual who owns more than 
5 percent of the voting shares of the cor-
poration; 
(ii) a Named Executive Officer; and 
(iii) any management employee par-
ticipating in an equity compensation plan 
before the corporation received the Federal 
aid related to COVID–19. 
(2) FEDERAL
AID.—The term ‘‘Federal aid’’ 
means any emergency lending provided under section 
13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act or any Federal fi-
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nancial support in the form of a grant, loan, or loan 
guarantee. 
(3) MAJOR CORPORATION.—The term ‘‘major 
corporation’’ means any issuer— 
(A) the securities of which are traded on a 
national securities exchange; 
(B) the securities of which are required to 
be registered with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission under section 12(g) or 15(d) of the 
Securities Exchange Act of 1934; or 
(C) that is an accelerated filed, as defined 
in section 240.12b–2 of title 17, Code of Fed-
eral Regulations. 
(4) 
MANAGEMENT
EMPLOYEE.—The 
term 
‘‘management employee’’ means any employee who 
supervises another employee. 
(5) SECURITIES TERMS.—The terms ‘‘issuer’’, 
‘‘national securities exchange’’, and ‘‘security’’ have 
the meaning give those terms, respectively, under 
section 3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(15 U.S.C. 78c). 
Æ 
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