lcalvobartolome/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Securities Act of 1933 to add to the definition of accredited investor any natural person whose individual net worth, or joint net worth with his or her spouse, exceeds $1 million (adjusted every five years for inflation).

The person's net worth shall exclude:

 the person's primary residence; and as a liability any indebtedness secured by the primary residence, up to the estimated fair market value of the residence at the time of the sale of securities. Indebtedness secured by the person's primary residence in excess of the residence's estimated fair market value at the time of the sale of securities, however, shall be included in net worth as a liability.

An accredited investor shall also include any natural person:

 whose individual income exceeded $200,000 in each of the two most recent years, or whose joint income with spouse exceeded $300,000 in each of those years, and has a reasonable expectation of reaching the same income level in the current year; currently licensed or registered as a broker or investment adviser by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) (or an equivalent self-regulatory organization), or a state division responsible for licensing or registration of individuals in connection with securities activities; or whose demonstrable education or job experience qualifies as professional knowledge of a subject related to a particular investment, and whose education or job experience is verified by the FINRA or an equivalent self-regulatory organization.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-05-01 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

(Sec. 1) This bill amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act with respect to the treatment of certain municipal obligations to direct the federal banking agencies to treat as a high-quality level 2A liquid asset any municipal obligation that is liquid, readily marketable, and investment grade as of the calculation date.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Comptroller of the Currency are directed to amend the rule titled "Liquidity Coverage Ratio: Liquidity Risk Measurement Standards; Final Rule" to implement this Act.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-05-15 00:00:00

Streamlining Excessive and Costly Regulations Review Act

(Sec. 2) This bill requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), within 5 years after enactment of this Act, and thereafter at least once within each 10-year period, to:

 review each significant regulation it has issued; determine by vote whether it is ineffective, excessively burdensome, unnecessary, or inconsistent with its mandate; solicit public comment as to whether the regulation should be amended or repealed; and subsequently amend or repeal accordingly. The SEC shall report to certain congressional committees the steps it has taken to implement the results of its decision, including any action to amend or repeal the target regulation.

The bill declares that SEC determinations made pursuant to this Act are final and not subject to judicial review.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-05-15 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Fair Access to Investment Research Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revise a specified regulation to create a safe harbor for certain publications or distributions of research reports by brokers or dealers distributing securities.

The revised regulation shall declare that, even if a broker or dealer participates in the registered offering of a covered investment fund's securities, the investment fund research report shall not be deemed to constitute an offer for sale nor an offer to sell a security that is the subject of the offering pursuant to a registration statement that the issuer proposes to file, or has filed, or that is effective.

The covered investment fund research report shall indeed be deemed to satisfy the regulation's requirements as well as those of any self-regulatory organization.

 The SEC shall not impose specified conditions and requirements when implementing the safe harbor.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-06-04 00:00:00

Build America Bonds Act of 2015

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to build America bonds, to: (1) make permanent the issuance authority for such bonds and the authority for payments to bond issuers, (2) make phased reductions in the credit percentage to bondholders and in the percentage of payments to issuers of such bonds, (3) make federal wage rate and other grant requirements applicable to such bonds, (4) allow refundings of currently-issued bonds, and (5) allow the use of such bonds to fund capital expenditures for levees and flood control projects.

Provides for an increase in payments to issuers of build America bonds to compensate for reductions in the amount of such payments due to sequestration.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-06-25 00:00:00

Modernizing American Manufacturing Bonds Act

Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to qualified small issue bonds for manufacturing purposes, to: (1) expand the definition of "manufacturing facility" to include a facility which is used in the creation or production of intangible property and which is functionally related and subordinate to a facility located on the same site and financed with not more than 25% of bond proceeds, and (2) increase from $10 million to $30 million the maximum bond limitation.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-07-10 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Securities and Exchange Commission Reporting Modernization Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to repeal the requirement that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) compile an annual tabulation of the occasions on which it has used specified law, including the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978, to obtain access to financial records of a customer and include it in its annual report to the Congress.

(The specified law referred to is the authority of the SEC to gain access to and obtain copies of, or the information contained in, financial records of a customer from a financial institution without prior notice to the customer upon an ex parte showing to an appropriate U.S. district court that the SEC seeks such records pursuant to a subpena, if certain circumstances exist and certain requirements are met.)
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-07-23 00:00:00

Fixed Asset Relief Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the additional depreciation allowance (bonus depreciation) from 50% to 100% of the adjusted basis of qualifying business property and to make such increased allowance permanent.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-07-27 00:00:00

Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2015

 This bill expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) legislation is necessary to provide consumers information on products that are free of child labor, forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking; and (2) businesses and consumers, by means of publicly available disclosures, can avoid inadvertently promoting or sanctioning these crimes through production and purchase of raw materials, goods, and finished products that have been tainted in the supply chains.

The bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), within one year after enactment of this Act, to promulgate regulations requiring any covered issuer of a registered security to include in its mandatory annual report a disclosure of whether the issuer has taken any measures during the year to identify and address conditions of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor within the issuer's supply chains. The term "covered issuer" means an issuer that has annual worldwide global receipts in excess of $100 million.

The regulations shall mandate that the required information be disclosed on such issuer's Internet website through a conspicuous and easily understandable link to the relevant information labeled "Global Supply Chain Transparency."

The SEC must make available to the public in a searchable format on its website: (1) a list of covered issuers required to disclose such information, and (2) a compilation of the information disclosed.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-10-21 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on February 1, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to establish within the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) an Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation.

The Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation shall:

 assist small businesses and small business investors in resolving significant problems they may have with the SEC or with self-regulatory organizations; identify areas in which such businesses and investors would benefit from changes in SEC regulations or the rules of such organizations; identify problems that small businesses have with securing access to capital, including any unique challenges to minority-owned and women-owned small businesses; analyze the potential impact on such businesses and investors of proposed SEC regulations and proposed rules that are likely to have a significant economic impact on small businesses and small business capital formation; conduct outreach to such businesses and investors to solicit views on relevant capital formation issues; propose to the SEC changes in its regulations or orders, and propose to Congress legislative, administrative, or personnel changes, to mitigate problems identified and to promote the interests of such businesses and investors; consult with the Investor Advocate on such proposals and advise the Investor Advocate on small business-related issues; submit annual reports on its activities to specified congressional committees; and be responsible for planning, organizing, and executing the annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation. The bill also establishes the Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee, which shall provide the SEC with advice on SEC rules, regulations, and policies regarding its mission of protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation, as they relate to:

 capital raising by emerging, privately held small businesses and publicly traded companies with less than $250 million in public market capitalization through securities offerings; trading in the securities of such businesses and companies; and public reporting and corporate governance requirements of such businesses and companies. The SEC shall assess the committee's recommendations and disclose any action it intends to take with respect to such recommendations.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-10-22 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Due Process Restoration Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to authorize a person who is a party to an administrative proceeding brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under a securities law, and against whom an order imposing a cease and desist order and a penalty may be issued at the conclusion of the proceeding, to require the SEC to terminate the proceeding. If a person requires the SEC to terminate a proceeding, the SEC may bring a civil action against that person for the same remedy that might have been imposed.

A legal or equitable remedy may be imposed on a person against whom an administrative proceeding was brought only upon a showing by the SEC of clear and convincing evidence that the person has violated the relevant provision of law.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-10-22 00:00:00

Outsourcing Accountability Act of 2015

 Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require registered securities issuers to disclose annually to the Securities and Exchange Commission and to shareholders: (1) the total number of employees domiciled in the United States and listed by number in each state (including those of consolidated subsidiaries); (2) the total number of such employees physically working in and domiciled in any country other than the United States, listed by number in each country; and (3) the percentage increase or decrease in such numbers from the previous reporting year.

Exempts from such requirements: (1) certain new public companies, and (2) issuers with total annual gross revenues of less than $1 billion during the most recently completed fiscal year.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-11-03 00:00:00

Get Regulation Out of the Way Act of 2015 or the GROW Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to exempt from the auditor attestation of internal control assessments an issuer of securities whose total market capitalization is less than $2 billion.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-11-04 00:00:00

Hedge Fund Sunshine Act of 2015

This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require that hedge funds send specified information to both the issuer of a security and each exchange where the security is rated within five (instead of 10) days of acquiring 1% (instead of 5%) of the beneficial ownership of an equity security, and also to file specified information required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

 For purposes of determining such beneficial ownership, a hedge fund shall include any equity security with respect to which it owns a derivative instrument that includes the opportunity to profit or share in any profit derived from an increase in the value of such equity security.

In addition, a hedge fund must file a quarterly report with the SEC if it: (1) has $100 million or more in assets under management, and (2) is the beneficial owner of more than 1% of a class of any security.

The SEC shall make all reports received under this Act publicly available on its website.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-11-19 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Investor Clarity and Bank Parity Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to permit a hedge fund or private equity fund to share the same name, or a variation of the same name, as a banking entity that is an investment advisor to the hedge fund or private equity fund, if:

 the investment advisor is not an insured depository institution, a company that controls an insured depository institution, or a company treated as a bank holding company for purposes of the International Banking Act of 1978 relating to nonbanking activities of foreign banks; the investment advisor does not share the same name, or a variation of it, as an insured depository institution, a company that controls an insured depository institution, or a company treated as a bank holding company for the specified purposes of the International Banking Act of 1978; and the name does not contain the word "bank."
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-12-01 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Fostering Innovation Act of 2015 

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 with respect to the requirement that each registered public accounting firm that prepares or issues an audit report for an issuer of securities (other than an emerging growth company) shall attest to, and report on, the internal control assessment made by the issuer's management.

This requirement shall not apply with respect to any audit report prepared for an issuer that:

 ceased to be an emerging growth company on the last day of its fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of its first sale of common equity securities, had average annual gross revenues of less than $50 million as of its most recently completed fiscal year, and is not a large accelerated filer. This temporary exemption for low-revenue issuers shall expire upon the earliest of:

 the last day of the issuer's fiscal year following the tenth anniversary of its first sale of common equity securities pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, the last day of the issuer's fiscal year during which the issuer's average annual gross revenues exceed $50 million, or the date upon which the issuer becomes a large accelerated filer.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-12-03 00:00:00

Expanding Proven Financing for American Employers Act 

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to permit the manager of a qualified collateralized loan obligation, or one or more of the majority-owned affiliates of the manager (or its knowledgeable employees and other employees), to meet the risk retention requirement for a qualified collateralized loan obligation by the purchase and holding (without transferring the credit risk) of the value of at least 5% of the equity distributed among each of the higher tranches of the issuance with at least 3.5% retained as equity of the collateralized loan obligation.

The bill prescribes characteristics of a qualified collateralized loan obligation with respect to:

 asset quality protections that have at least 100% of the obligation's assets composed of senior secured loans and cash equivalents, asset portfolio protections, structural protections, alignment of manager and investor interests, regulatory oversight requirements, and transparency and disclosure requirements. Further criteria for the asset quality protections for a qualified collaterilized loan obligation require that the obligation:

 have 100% of its loan assets issued by companies; have no assets that are asset-backed securities or derivatives (except for an acquired loan participation, any interest related to or in a letter of credit, or a derivative transaction to hedge interest rate or currency rate mismatches); not purchase assets in default, margin stock, or equity convertible securities; acquire only loans held or acquired by three or more investors or lenders unaffiliated with the manager; hold only loans to borrowers whose financial statements are subject to an annual audit from an independent, accredited accounting firm; and have no more than 60% of its assets composed of covenant lite loans, except that each asset shall require disclosure of unaudited quarterly financial statements and of audited annual financial statements. A "covenant lite loan" (or "cov-lite," commonly a loan agreement that does not contain the usual protective covenants for the benefit of the lending party) shall mean in this bill, at the time a collateralized loan obligation enters into a commitment to acquire it, a loan for which the underlying instruments neither:

 require the obligor to comply with any maintenance covenant; nor contain a cross-default provision to a financing facility of the obligor that requires the obligor to comply with a maintenance covenant (including one that may apply only upon the funding of such other loan or financing facility). If any such loan is pari passu (treated equally and without preference) with another loan of the obligor that would not be a covenant lite loan, such loan shall be deemed not to be a covenant lite loan.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2015-12-10 00:00:00

Consumer Financial Choice and Capital Markets Protection Act of 2015

This bill amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to authorize any open-end investment company to elect, in its registration statement, to be a money market fund and to compute the current price per share, for purposes of distribution or redemption and repurchase, of any redeemable security issued by the company using the amortized cost method of valuation or the penny-rounding method of pricing, regardless of whether its shareholders are limited to natural persons, if:

 the company's objective is the generation of income and preservation of capital through investment in short-term, high-quality debt securities; the company elects to maintain a stable net asset value per share or stable price per share, by virtue of such methods, and the board of directors of the company has determined in good faith that it is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders to do so and that the money market fund will continue to use such method(s) only as long as the board believes that the resulting share price fairly reflects the market-based net asset value per share of the company; and the company agrees to comply with such quality, maturity, diversification, and liquidity requirements as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prescribes as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors, if consistent with this Act. The bill prohibits covered federal assistance from being provided directly to any money market fund. The bill defines: (1) "covered federal assistance " as federal assistance used for the purpose of making any loan to, or purchasing any stock, equity interest, or debt obligation of, any money market fund, guaranteeing any loan or debt issuance of any money market fund, or entering into any assistance arrangement, loss sharing, or profit sharing with any money market fund; and (2) "federal assistance" as insurance or guarantees by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, transactions involving the Secretary of the Treasury, or the use of any advances from any Federal Reserve credit facility or discount window that is not part of a program or facility with broad-based eligibility established in unusual or exigent circumstances.

No principal underwriter of a redeemable security issued by a money market fund nor any dealer shall offer or sell any such security to any person unless the prospectus of the money market fund and any advertising or sales literature for such fund prominently discloses such prohibition against direct covered federal assistance.

 A company that elects to be a money market fund shall remain subject to the provisions of this Act and SEC rules and regulations that would otherwise apply to a registered open-end company, if consistent with this Act.