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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2187 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2187

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 2, 2016

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
                           and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 
    To direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to revise its 
    regulations regarding the qualifications of natural persons as 
                         accredited investors.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fair Investment Opportunities for 
Professional Experts Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF ACCREDITED INVESTOR.

    Section 2(a)(15) of the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 
77b(a)(15) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as subparagraphs 
        (A) and (F), respectively; and
            (2) in subparagraph (A) (as so redesignated), by striking 
        ``; or'' and inserting a semicolon, and inserting after such 
        subparagraph the following:
                    ``(B) any natural person whose individual net 
                worth, or joint net worth with that person's spouse, 
                exceeds $1,000,000 (which amount, along with the 
                amounts set forth in subparagraph (C), shall be 
                adjusted for inflation by the Commission every 5 years 
                to the nearest $10,000 to reflect the change in the 
                Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published 
                by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) where, for purposes 
                of calculating net worth under this subparagraph--
                            ``(i) the person's primary residence shall 
                        not be included as an asset;
                            ``(ii) indebtedness that is secured by the 
                        person's primary residence, up to the estimated 
                        fair market value of the primary residence at 
                        the time of the sale of securities, shall not 
                        be included as a liability (except that if the 
                        amount of such indebtedness outstanding at the 
                        time of sale of securities exceeds the amount 
                        outstanding 60 days before such time, other 
                        than as a result of the acquisition of the 
                        primary residence, the amount of such excess 
                        shall be included as a liability); and
                            ``(iii) indebtedness that is secured by the 
                        person's primary residence in excess of the 
                        estimated fair market value of the primary 
                        residence at the time of the sale of securities 
                        shall be included as a liability;
                    ``(C) any natural person who had an individual 
                income in excess of $200,000 in each of the 2 most 
                recent years or joint income with that person's spouse 
                in excess of $300,000 in each of those years and has a 
                reasonable expectation of reaching the same income 
                level in the current year;
                    ``(D) any natural person who is currently licensed 
                or registered as a broker or investment adviser by the 
                Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory 
                Authority, or an equivalent self-regulatory 
                organization (as defined in section 3(a)(26) of the 
                Securities Exchange Act of 1934), or the securities 
                division of a State or the equivalent State division 
                responsible for licensing or registration of 
                individuals in connection with securities activities;
                    ``(E) any natural person the Commission determines, 
                by regulation, to have demonstrable education or job 
                experience to qualify such person as having 
                professional knowledge of a subject related to a 
                particular investment, and whose education or job 
                experience is verified by the Financial Industry 
                Regulatory Authority or an equivalent self-regulatory 
                organization (as defined in section 3(a)(26) of the 
                Securities Exchange Act of 1934); or''.

            Passed the House of Representatives February 1, 2016.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.
```