HR 2919 RFS
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Investment 
Research for Small and Emerging Issuers Act’’. 
SEC. 2. RESEARCH STUDY. 
(a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Securities and Ex-
change Commission shall conduct a study to evaluate the 
issues affecting the provision of and reliance upon invest-
ment research into small issuers, including emerging 
growth companies and companies considering initial public 
offerings. 
(b) CONTENTS
OF STUDY.—The study required 
under subsection (a) shall consider— 
(1) factors related to the demand for such re-
search by institutional and retail investors; 
(2) the availability of such research, includ-
ing— 
(A) the number and types of firms who 
provide such research; 
(B) the volume of such research over time; 
and 
(C) competition in the research market; 
(3) conflicts of interest relating to the produc-
tion and distribution of investment research; 
(4) the costs of such research; 
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(5) the impacts of different payment mecha-
nisms for investment research into small issuers, in-
cluding whether such research is paid for by— 
(A) hard-dollar payments from research 
clients; 
(B) payments directed from the client’s 
commission income (i.e., ‘‘soft dollars’’); or 
(C) payments from the issuer that is the 
subject of such research; 
(6) any unique challenges faced by minority- 
owned, women-owned, and veteran-owned small 
issuers in obtaining research coverage; and 
(7) the impact on the availability of research 
coverage for small issuers due to— 
(A) investment adviser concentration and 
consolidation, including any potential impacts of 
fund-size on demand for investment research of 
small issuers; 
(B) broker and dealer concentration and 
consolidation, including any relationships be-
tween the size of the firm and allocation of re-
sources for investment research into small 
issuers; 
(C) Securities and Exchange Commission 
rules; 
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(D) registered national securities associa-
tion rules; 
(E) State and Federal liability concerns; 
(F) the settlement agreements referenced 
in Securities and Exchange Commission Litiga-
tion Release No. 18438 (i.e., the ‘‘Global Re-
search Analyst Settlement’’); and 
(G) Directive 2014/65/EU of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 
on markets in financial instruments and 
amending Directive 2002/92/EC and Directive 
2011/61/EU, as implemented by the European 
Union (‘‘EU’’) member states (‘‘MiFID II’’). 
(c) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Securities 
and Exchange Commission shall submit to Congress a re-
port that includes— 
(1) the results of the study required by sub-
section (a); and 
(2) recommendations to increase the demand 
for, volume of, and quality of investment research 
into small issuers, including emerging growth com-
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panies and companies considering initial public of-
ferings. 
Passed the House of Representatives July 9, 2019. 
Attest: 
CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 
Clerk. 
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