By STEPHEN LABATON
NYT - Published: October 29, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 — Frustrated with laws and regulations that have made companies and accounting firms more open to lawsuits from investors and the government, corporate America — with the encouragement of the Bush administration — is preparing to fight back.
Now that corruption cases like Enron and WorldCom are falling out of the news, two influential industry groups with close ties to administration officials are hoping to swing the regulatory pendulum in the opposite direction. The groups are drafting proposals to provide broad new protections to corporations and accounting firms from criminal cases brought by federal and state prosecutors as well as a stronger shield against civil lawsuits from investors.
Although the details are still being worked out, the groups’ proposals aim to limit the liability of accounting firms for the work they do on behalf of clients, to force prosecutors to target individual wrongdoers rather than entire companies, and to scale back shareholder lawsuits.
The groups hope to reduce what they see as some burdens imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, landmark post-Enron legislation adopted in 2002. The law, which placed significant new auditing and governance requirements on companies, gave broad discretion for interpretation to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The groups are also interested in rolling back rules and policies that have been on the books for decades.
To alleviate concerns that the new Congress may not adopt the proposals — regardless of which party holds power in the legislative branch next year — many are being tailored so that they could be adopted through rulemaking by the S.E.C. and enforcement policy changes at the Justice Department.
The proposals will begin to be laid out in public shortly after Election Day, members of the groups said in recent interviews. One of the committees was formed by the United States Chamber of Commerce and until recently was headed by Robert K. Steel..."
The Washington Buzz (From two senior [Different Reps], Republican, House staffers):
This has been on the boards for a while, but the Administration has thought it would cause a backlash. Further with their political capital slipping slowly away they have not wanted to rock the boat.
Now it appears that many Republican leaders are more and more scared that they will have less power and influence in the future. The result is that they have a slew of topics - once thought to be politically/ popularly untouchable even with their majorities - they are about to tackle. They are just waiting for the elections to be over. The thinking is that after the elections they should hustle these agendas through because they will be out of power soon anyway, so why not do it while they can?
Topics include consumer protection, environmental standards, product liability, and a host of social programs affecting the poor and sick; and also an absolute shitload of pork barrel spending.
The thought runs: As for the spending, spend as much as you can - if the Dems win it will just be one more headache for them.
Its so nice to have leadership we can respect and admire.
Rob