SEC Regulatory Accountability Act

Bill: 112-hr-2308
Sponsor: Rep. Garrett, Scott [R-NJ-5]
Introduced: 2011-06-23 in the House
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Corporate finance and management
Financial services and investments
Government studies and investigations
Securities
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Summary:
action_date: 2011-06-23
text: 
SEC Regulatory Accountability Act - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), before promulgating a regulation or issuing any order, to: (1) identify the nature and significance of the problem that the proposed regulation is designed to address in order to assess whether any new regulation is warranted; (2) use the Office of the Chief Economist to assess the costs and benefits of the intended regulation and adopt it only on a determination that its benefits justify the costs; and (3) ensure that any regulation is accessible, consistent, written in plain language, and easy to understand.
 
Directs the SEC to review its regulations and orders periodically to determine their efficacy and whether to modify or repeal them.

action_date: 2012-04-25
text: 
SEC Regulatory Accountability Act - (Sec. 2) Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), before issuing a regulation, to: (1) identify and evaluate the significance of the problem that the proposed regulation is designed to address in order to assess whether any new regulation is warranted; (2) use the SEC Chief Economist to assess the costs and benefits of the intended regulation and adopt it only upon a reasoned determination that its benefits justify the costs; (3) identify and assess available alternatives that were considered; and (4) ensure that any regulation is accessible, consistent, written in plain language, and easy to understand.
 
Requires the SEC to: (1) consider whether the rulemaking will promote efficiency, competition, and capital formation; (2) consider the impact of the regulation upon investor choice, market liquidity and small business; (3) explain in its final rule the nature of comments received concerning the proposed rule or rule change; and (4) respond to those comments, explaining any changes made in response, and the reasons that it did not incorporate industry group concerns regarding potential costs or benefits.
 
Directs the SEC to: (1) review its regulations and orders periodically to determine if they are outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome; and (2) modify, streamline, expand, or repeal them.
 
Requires the SEC, whenever it adopts or amends a major rule, to state in its adopting release: (1) the purposes and intended consequences of the regulation, (2) the post-implementation quantitative and qualitative metrics to measure the economic impact of the regulation and the extent to which it has accomplished the stated purposes, (3) the assessment plan that will be used under the supervision of the Chief Economist to assess whether the regulation has achieved those purposes, and (4) any foreseeable unintended or negative consequences.
 
Requires the assessment plan to: (1) consider the costs, benefits, and intended and unintended consequences of the regulation; and (2) specify the data to be collected, the methods for its collection and analysis, and an assessment completion date.
 
Waives notice and comment requirements for the data collection if the SEC has published its assessment plan for notice and comment at least 30 days before adoption of a final regulation or amendment.
 
(Sec. 3) Requires the SEC to report to specified congressional committees a plan to subject to the requirements of this Act the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, and any registered national securities association.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-04-25
text: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 317.
action_date: 2012-04-25
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Financial Services. H. Rept. 112-453.
action_date: 2012-04-25
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Financial Services. H. Rept. 112-453.
action_date: 2012-02-16
text: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 30 - 26.
action_date: 2012-02-16
text: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 19 - 15 .
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
action_date: 2011-09-15
text: Committee Hearings Held.
action_date: 2011-07-19
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises.
action_date: 2011-06-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
action_date: 2011-06-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-06-23
text: Introduced in House