Title: 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.
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
This bill requires a major corporation that receives federal aid related to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) to make an annual grant of equity to its employees until all such federal aid is repaid.
A major corporation is a corporation that, among other things, has its securities traded on a national securities exchange, has to register its securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and has an aggregate market value of $75 million.
The number of shares of stock such a corporation must grant to its employees shall be determined according to a specified formula. Such grant (1) shall be a grant of whole shares of stock; (2) may not be conditioned on the purchase of company stock or any employee performance evaluations; and (3) shall be equal, in terms of voting and dividend rights, to the class of securities otherwise issued by the corporation that carries the highest such rights.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6851 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 outstanding, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. EQUITY PAYMENTS TO EMPLOYEES WHILE RECEIVING FEDERAL AID.

    (a) In General.--Any major corporation that receives Federal aid 
related to COVID-19 shall, until the date on which all such Federal aid 
is repaid to the Federal Government, make an annual grant of equity to 
the employees 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 percentage.--In this 
                paragraph, the term ``prior annual stock grant 
                percentage'' means the average, 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 proportion to a 
        formula taking into account that employee's salary adjusted for 
        tenure with each year of tenure counting equally, and with a 
        wage limit of $137,700.
    (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 Ownership 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 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 employee in 
                good standing working for the corporation 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 
                        corporation;
                            (ii) a Named Executive Officer; and
                            (iii) any management employee participating 
                        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 financial 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 Federal 
                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).
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