Compliance February 4, 2002

Wal-Mart Opposes Kennedy Bill

April 2, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which provides jobs for 900,000 US workers, 650,000 of whom are covered by the group's pension plan, opposes Senator Edward Kennedy's (D-Massachusetts) pension-reform bill.

Reported by

Camilla Klein

The company, America’s largest non-government employer, argues that a proposed set of corporate-accountability regulations would force it to vastly reduce its worker retirement savings accounts, possible sounding a death knell for the plan, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Burden

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“We fear that many of the current proposals would have unintended consequences or create burdens on plan administrators far in excess of the protections conferred on plan participants,” Debbie Davis-Campbell, vice president for retirement and savings plans at Wal-Mart, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee.

According to the report, Wal-Mart opposes elements of Kennedy’s bill, which has won committee approval in the Senate and is to be voted upon by the full Chamber.

The bill would require companies to:

diversify investment opportunities for employees
include workers on pension boards
notify workers each time an executive makes a large stock transaction.

But Wal-Mart believes that the changes would be too costly to implement and may not benefit employees as much as proponents believe.

The AP reports that Wal-Mart lobbyists have been meeting with members of Congress and their staffs, notably Senators Tim Hutchinson (R-Arkansas) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas). Each sits on a panel that crafts pension legislation.