Dreier Reaction to FASB Decision on Expensing

April 23, 2003

WASHINGTON - Congressmen David Dreier (R-CA), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, issued the following statement today in reaction to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) decision regarding the expensing of stock options.

"Disappointingly, FASB's decision yesterday to move forward with mandatory stock option expensing ignores the concerns that I and many of my colleagues raised in our February letter to the Board. Mandatory expensing will do nothing to improve the availability of meaningful information to investors or result in more open corporate reporting. Its only impact will be to eliminate the use of broad-based stock option plans for the most innovative and growing sectors of our economy. Corporate executives will still get stock options under mandatory expensing, but you can be certain that rank-and-file workers will have far fewer opportunities to enjoy corporate ownership.

"My colleague Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and I introduced legislation last month that addresses the need for better disclosures and transparency of stock option information to investors while preserving the ability to use broad-based plans. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and Senate to enact this pro-investor, pro-growth legislation."

Congressman Dreier is an original co-sponsor of the Broad Based Stock Option Plan Transparency Act, H.R. 1372.