I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1256

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide for an annual

limit on the amount of certain fees which may be collected by the

Securities and Exchange Commission.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 24, 1999

Mr. FOSSELLA (for himself and Mr. MENENDEZ) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide

for an annual limit on the amount of certain fees which

may be collected by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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 ‘‘Savings and Invest5 ment Relief Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. TRANSACTION FEES.

2 Section 31 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

3 (15 U.S.C. 78ee) is amended by adding at the end the

4 following new subsection:

5 ‘‘(h) TRANSACTION FEE LIMITATION; DEPOSIT OF

6 FEES.—

7 ‘‘(1) LIMITATION ON TRANSACTION FEES.—

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For fiscal years 2000

9 through 2006, the Commission shall not collect

10 any fees described in subsections (b), (c), and

11 (d) which in the aggregate exceed—

12 ‘‘(i) $463,000,000 during fiscal year

13 2000;

14 ‘‘(ii) $524,000,000 during fiscal year

15 2001;

16 ‘‘(iii) $584,000,000 during fiscal year

17 2002;

18 ‘‘(iv) $652,000,000 during fiscal year

19 2003;

20 ‘‘(v) $725,000,000 during fiscal year

21 2004;

22 ‘‘(vi) $803,000,000 during fiscal year

23 2005; and

24 ‘‘(vii) $889,000,000 during fiscal year

25 2006.
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1 ‘‘(B) PUBLICATION.—The Commission

2 shall publish annually in the Federal Register

3 notice of the fee limitations described in this

4 paragraph and any suspension of fees pursuant

5 to the limitations described in this paragraph.

6 ‘‘(C) COMMISSION AUTHORITY.—The Com7 mission shall have the authority to implement

8 by rule, regulation, or order a process for termi9 nation of fee collections consistent with the lim10 itation provided in this paragraph, including the

11 authority to provide by rule, regulation, or

12 order a process for appropriate treatment of

13 any amounts collected in excess of such limits.

14 ‘‘(2) DEPOSIT OF TRANSACTION FEES.—

15 ‘‘(A) GENERAL REVENUE.—Notwith16 standing subsections (b), (c), and (d), during

17 fiscal years 2000 through 2006, fees collected

18 pursuant to subsections (b), (c), and (d) shall

19 be deposited and collected as general revenue of

20 the Treasury, in an amount not to exceed—

21 ‘‘(i) $338,000,000 during fiscal year

22 2000;

23 ‘‘(ii) $389,000,000 during fiscal year

24 2001;
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1 ‘‘(iii) $444,000,000 during fiscal year

2 2002;

3 ‘‘(iv) $502,000,000 during fiscal year

4 2003;

5 ‘‘(v) $565,000,000 during fiscal year

6 2004;

7 ‘‘(vi) $633,000,000 during fiscal year

8 2005; and

9 ‘‘(vii) $709,000,000 during fiscal year

10 2006.

11 ‘‘(B) OFFSETTING COLLECTIONS.—Not12 withstanding subsections (b), (c) and (d), dur13 ing fiscal years 2000 through 2006, the balance

14 of any amounts collected pursuant to sub15 sections (b), (c), and (d) which are not depos16 ited as general revenue pursuant to subpara17 graph (A) shall be deposited and credited as

18 offsetting collections to the account providing

19 appropriations to the Commission, to the extent

20 provided for in advance in appropriations Acts.

21 If on the first day of a fiscal year, a regular ap22 propriation to the Commission has not been en23 acted, the Commission shall continue to collect

24 fees (as offsetting collections) under this sub25 paragraph at the rate in effect during the pre-
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1 ceding fiscal year, until such a regular appro2 priation is enacted.

3 ‘‘(3) INSUFFICIENT FEES.—In any year in

4 which the total amount of fees collected under sec5 tion 31 of the Securities Act of 1934 and section

6 6(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 (including any

7 balance in the account providing appropriations to

8 the Commission) are insufficient to provide for the

9 Commission’s budget authority as provided by an

10 appropriations Act, such appropriations Act may

11 provide that the fee limitations described in para12 graph (1) shall be increased, with all such amounts

13 deposited and credited as offsetting collections to the

14 account providing appropriations to the Commis15 sion.’’.

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