II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4657 

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to establish a grant program 

to fund qualified investor advocacy clinics, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 28, 2022 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to establish 

a grant program to fund qualified investor advocacy clinics, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Investor Justice Act 

5 of 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO QUALIFIED INVESTOR ADVOCACY CLIN2 ICS. 

3 Section 4(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

4 (15 U.S.C. 78d(g)) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(9) GRANTS TO QUALIFIED INVESTOR ADVO7 CACY CLINICS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(i) QUALIFIED INVESTOR ADVOCACY

10 CLINIC.—The term ‘qualified investor ad11 vocacy clinic’ means an entity that— 

12 ‘‘(I) provides, or will provide, free 

13 representation to investors with claims 

14 of less than $100,000 (as such 

15 amount is annually adjusted by the 

16 Investor Advocate to reflect the per17 centage change in the Consumer Price 

18 Index for All Urban Consumers pub19 lished by the Bureau of Labor Statis20 tics of the Department of Labor) in 

21 securities arbitrations and mediations 

22 before a registered national securities 

23 association (with exceptions to the re24 quirements of this subclause author25 ized to be made by the Investor Advo26 cate on a case-by-case basis); and 


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1 ‘‘(II) is or will be sponsored, of2 fered, or run by— 

3 ‘‘(aa) a clinical program at, 

4 or partnering with, an American 

5 Bar Association accredited law 

6 school; or 

7 ‘‘(bb) an organization de8 scribed in section 501(c) of the 

9 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

10 and exempt from tax under sec11 tion 501(a) of such Code. 

12 ‘‘(ii) QUALIFIED REPRESENTATIVE.— 

13 The term ‘qualified representative’ means 

14 any individual authorized to represent in15 vestors before a registered national securi16 ties association. 

17 ‘‘(B) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Commis18 sion, acting through the Investor Advocate, may 

19 make grants, on a competitive basis, to quali20 fied investor advocacy clinics in accordance with 

21 this paragraph. 

22 ‘‘(C) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible for a 

23 grant under subparagraph (B), a qualified in24 vestor advocacy clinic shall submit to the Com25 mission an application at such time, in such 


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1 form, and containing such information as the 

2 Commission may require, including information 

3 with respect to— 

4 ‘‘(i) the number of investors in the 

5 geographical area served by the clinic; 

6 ‘‘(ii) other similar entities serving the 

7 same population; 

8 ‘‘(iii) the quality of the program of9 fered by the clinic, including— 

10 ‘‘(I) the qualifications of the ad11 ministrators and qualified representa12 tives of the clinic; and 

13 ‘‘(II) the record of the clinic, if 

14 any, in providing legal and edu15 cational services to investors with low 

16 dollar value claims in arbitrations and 

17 mediations; and 

18 ‘‘(iv) funding sources available to the 

19 clinic, including— 

20 ‘‘(I) amounts received from other 

21 grants and contributions; and 

22 ‘‘(II) the endowment and re23 sources of any institution sponsoring 

24 the clinic. 


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1 ‘‘(D) GRANT USES.—A qualified investor 

2 advocacy clinic to which a grant is made under 

3 subparagraph (B) may only use the grant funds 

4 for the development, expansion, or continuation 

5 of the qualified investor advocacy clinic. 

6 ‘‘(E) DETAIL OF FEDERAL AGENCY EM7 PLOYEES.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Upon the request 

9 of the Commission, the head of any Fed10 eral agency may detail, on a reimbursable 

11 basis, any of the personnel of that Federal 

12 agency to the Commission to assist the 

13 Commission in carrying out the functions 

14 of the Commission under this paragraph. 

15 ‘‘(ii) NO INTERRUPTION OF STA16 TUS.—The detail of any personnel under 

17 clause (i) shall be without interruption or 

18 loss of civil service status or privilege. 

19 ‘‘(F) TRANSPARENCY.—A qualified inves20 tor advocacy clinic to which a grant is made 

21 under subparagraph (B) shall submit to the 

22 Commission a detailed accounting of the use of 

23 the grant funds at such time, in such form, and 

24 containing such information as the Commission 

25 may require. 


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1 ‘‘(G) LIMITATIONS.— 

2 ‘‘(i) AGGREGATE LIMITATION.—The 

3 aggregate amount of grants made under 

4 subparagraph (B) during a fiscal year may 

5 not exceed $5,000,000 (as such amount is 

6 annually adjusted by the Investor Advocate 

7 to reflect the percentage change in the 

8 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Con9 sumers published by the Bureau of Labor 

10 Statistics of the Department of Labor). 

11 ‘‘(ii) SINGLE CLINIC LIMITATION.—In 

12 making grants under subparagraph (B), 

13 the Commission may not make, during a 

14 fiscal year, more than $150,000 (as such 

15 amount is annually adjusted to reflect the 

16 percentage change in the Consumer Price 

17 Index for All Urban Consumers published 

18 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the 

19 Department of Labor) in grants to any 

20 single qualified investor advocacy clinic. 

21 ‘‘(iii) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal 

22 share of the cost of activities carried out 

23 using a grant made under subparagraph 

24 (B) may not exceed 50 percent. 

25 ‘‘(iv) MULTI-YEAR GRANTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—In making 

2 grants under subparagraph (B), the 

3 Commission may make multi-year 

4 grants. 

5 ‘‘(II) LIMITATION.—A multi-year 

6 grant made under this clause may not 

7 be made for a period exceeding 3 

8 years. 

9 ‘‘(H) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA10 TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro11 priated such sums as may be necessary to carry 

12 out this paragraph.’’. 

Æ 


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