I just wanted to add to this already long conversation about my husband's flight hours. The 'pilot training center' that amonghtus contacted is an accredited 'certificate holder' for Part 61. He got the information for this training center from FAA sources. He is in direct contact with the head of the training center. This person specializes in converting foreign licenses according to FAA protocol. According to him, because my husband's license does not have some kind of SIC limitation on it, when he is pilot flying (PICUS) those hours can be counted as PIC.
Perhaps we are getting wrong information here, but just like raysalmon stated, it seems like answers even from the regulators themselves can be a mixed bag. It may be too much to ask for true clarification from a government agency. Ha!
Not that this makes a big difference, but my husband just received his verification letter from the FAA, for his foreign license. So I guess we are going to keep moving forward with this process. Thanks to everyone for your insight and detailed information.