[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 300 Introduced in House (IH)]







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;
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 the integrity of the employment and 
        retirement systems: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This resolution may be cited as the ``Employees and Retirees 
Restoration and Assistance Resolution of 2002''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) a timely and thorough investigation should be 
        undertaken into the alleged wrongdoings related to the economic 
        collapse of Enron Corporation;
            (2) any person, including any auditor, financial analyst, 
        Enron executive, accounting company, or other company or 
        partnership, who is found to have illegally withheld 
        information or disseminated misleading information regarding 
        Enron's financial condition should fully compensate the 
        company's employees who participated in the company's section 
        401(k) retirement plan for any losses suffered by such 
        employees as a result of such illegal conduct; and
            (3) every effort should be made to provide financial 
        assistance to the workers laid off as a result of Enron's 
        economic collapse.
                                 <all>