ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996               TAG: 9608010088
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO 

IN BUSINESS

Securities measure stalls in Congress

WASHINGTON - House and Senate negotiations over a bill to streamline securities laws stalled Wednesday in a dispute over funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission, sources said.

At issue is a proposal pushed by House Commerce Chairman Thomas Bliley, R-Va., that would reduce securities fees $680 million over five years and require the SEC to come to Congress each year for funding.

The Bliley element would eliminate the current situation, in which the SEC brings in fees that are roughly twice its annual budget and turns the surplus over to the general fund.

The Bliley proposal is supported by SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr., but opposed by the Office of Management and Budget, which sets budget policy for the White House. OMB has said the Bliley proposal would cause the SEC to compete with other agencies for funds.

The Bliley proposal is part of a House securities bill that seeks to create national securities markets by eliminating duplicative state and federal regulation of mutual funds. The Senate version doesn't contain a similar SEC funding proposal.

According to a source close to the House and Senate talks, Senate negotiators said they will postpone further discussions until OMB officials agree to the Bliley funding proposal.

``They will hold up the total bill pending an administration agreement on funding for the SEC,'' said the source, who spoke on condition he wouldn't be identified. A spokesman for the House Democrats on the Commerce Committee confirmed that.

- Associated Press

Briefly ...

NBC Bank will open a branch Sunday in the Kroger store at Spartan Square, 1477 W. Main Street, Salem, bringing to eight the number of NBC banks operating in supermarkets in the Roanoke Valley. Kathy Sealander is the branch manager and one of four employees there.

More than 30 production employees at Long-Airdox Co.'s Saltville plant were laid off Wednesday, but the company said the layoffs are temporary. Larry Stowers, plant manager, said the 34 employees would be recalled as production levels improve, but there has been an extended slowdown in orders for mining equipment made at the Smyth County plant.

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