SEC Revolving Door Restriction Act of 2015

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide for a one-year employment restriction for ex-employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to work for companies against which the Commission brought enforcement actions that were participated on by such ex-employees, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the SEC Revolving Door Restriction Act of 2015 2. One-year employment restriction related to enforcement matters (a) In general The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ( 15 U.S.C. 78a et seq. 4F. One-year employment restriction related to enforcement matters and required ethics opinions (a) One-Year employment restriction Any person who is an employee of the Commission and who, within 1 year after the termination of such employment with the Commission, works for any company or individual against whom the Commission brought an enforcement action, where such action (or a waiver related to such action) was brought within the previous 18 months and was participated on by such person, shall be subject to the same penalties as provided for in section 216 of title 18, United States Code, for offenses described in that section. (b) Required ethics opinion (1) In general Any person who is an employee of the Commission and who, within 1 year after the termination of such employment with the Commission, seeks to work for any company or individual against whom the Commission brought an enforcement action (or issued a waiver related to such action) where such action (or waiver) was participated on by such person, shall first receive an ethics opinion from the Commission. (2) Ethics opinion (A) Content The ethics opinion described in paragraph (1) shall include a determination of whether such person should be permitted to work for such company or individual. (B) Determination requirements The Commission may not determine, under subparagraph (A), that such person should be permitted to work for such company or individual unless the Commission finds that— (i) there would be no appearance of impropriety for such person to work for such company or individual; (ii) no material advantage would be gained by such company or individual because such person participated on an enforcement action (or a waiver related to such action); and (iii) the integrity of any ongoing enforcement action participated on by such person is not diminished by such person going to work for such company or individual. (C) Regulations The Chairman of the Commission shall provide for regulations for the issuance of ethics opinions under this subsection. (3) Penalties A person shall be subject to the same penalties as provided for in section 216 of title 18, United States Code, for offenses described in that section, if such person— (A) receives an ethics opinion under paragraph (1), where such ethics opinion states that such person should not be permitted to work for a particular company or individual; and (B) within 1 year after the termination of such person’s employment with the Commission, the person works for such company or individual. (c) Exception for non-Professional staff The provisions of this section shall not apply to a person who is a non-professional staff employee of the Commission. (d) Definitions For purposes of this section: (1) Enforcement action The term enforcement action (2) Participated on With respect to an enforcement action (or a waiver related to such action) and a person, the term participated on (A) participated personally in the enforcement action (or waiver related to such action); or (B) knew or reasonably should have known that the enforcement action (or waiver related to such action) was under his or her official responsibility as an employee of the Commission. (3) Work for The term work for (A) employed by; (B) volunteers for; (C) lobbies on behalf of; or (D) consults for. . (b) Report One year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission shall submit a report to the Congress analyzing the impact that the provisions of this Act have had on recruitment and retention of employees by the Securities and Exchange Commission. (c) Effective date The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Summary: SEC Revolving Door Restriction Act of 2015 This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to subject to federal criminal penalties for bribery, graft, and conflicts of interest an ex-employee of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who, within one year after ending employment with the SEC, works for any company or individual against whom the SEC brought an enforcement action (or a related waiver) within the previous 18 months and the ex-employee participated in that action. Any employee who seeks to work for such a company or individual must first receive an ethics opinion from the SEC on whether permission to do so should be granted. Non-professional SEC staff are exempt from this employment prohibition.