Bill Sponsor
House Bill 78
115th Congress(2017-2018)
SEC Regulatory Accountability Act
Active
Amendments
Active
Passed House on Jan 12, 2017
Overview
Text
Sponsor
Introduced
Jan 3, 2017
Latest Action
Jan 17, 2017
Origin Chamber
House
Type
Bill
Bill
The primary form of legislative measure used to propose law. Depending on the chamber of origin, bills begin with a designation of either H.R. or S. Joint resolution is another form of legislative measure used to propose law.
Bill Number
78
Congress
115
Policy Area
Finance and Financial Sector
Finance and Financial Sector
Primary focus of measure is U.S. banking and financial institutions regulation; consumer credit; bankruptcy and debt collection; financial services and investments; insurance; securities; real estate transactions; currency. Measures concerning financial crimes may fall under Crime and Law Enforcement. Measures concerning business and corporate finance may fall under Commerce policy area. Measures concerning international banking may fall under Foreign Trade and International Finance policy area.
Sponsorship by Party
Republican
Missouri
Republican
California
Republican
Colorado
House Votes (2)
Senate Votes (0)
Question
On Passage
Status
Passed
Type
Roll Call Vote
Roll Call Vote
A vote that records the individual position of each Member who voted. Such votes occurring on the House floor (by the "yeas and nays" or by "recorded vote") are taken by electronic device. The Senate has no electronic voting system; in such votes, Senators answer "yea" or "nay" as the clerk calls each name aloud. Each vote is compiled by clerks and receives a roll call number (referenced in Congress.gov as a "Record Vote" [Senate] or "Roll no." [House]).
Roll Call Type
Recorded Vote
Roll Number
51
House Roll Call Votes
Summary

SEC Regulatory Accountability Act

This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to:

  • before issuing a regulation under the securities laws, identify the nature and source of the problem that the proposed regulation is designed to address;
  • adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned determination that its benefits justify its costs;
  • identify and assess available alternatives to any regulation; and
  • ensure that any regulation is accessible, consistent, written in plain language, and easy to understand.

In determining the costs and benefits of a proposed regulation, the SEC shall consider its impact on investor choice, market liquidity, and small businesses.

In addition, the SEC shall: (1) periodically review its existing regulations to determine if they are outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome; and (2) in accordance with such review, modify, streamline, expand, or repeal them.

Whenever it adopts or amends a rule that is "major" (in terms of economic impact), the SEC shall state in its adopting release: (1) the regulation's purposes and intended consequences, (2) metrics for measuring the regulation's economic impact, (3) the assessment plan to be used to assess whether the regulation has achieved its stated purposes, and (4) any foreseeable unintended or negative consequences of the regulation.

Text (3)
January 17, 2017
January 12, 2017
January 3, 2017
Amendments (5)
Jan 12, 2017
Not Agreed to in House
1
Sponsorship
House Amendment 43
Amendment sought to require the Chairman of the SEC to be trained on ethical standards and codes of conduct to ensure all regulations enacted are not done so with a conflict of interest.
Active
Jan 12, 2017
Not Agreed to in House
1
Sponsorship
House Amendment 42
Amendment sought to require the Chairman of the SEC and his immediate family to divest from too-big-to-fail banks.
Active
Jan 12, 2017
Not Agreed to in House
1
Sponsorship
House Amendment 41
Amendment sought to exempt regulations promulgated to maintain or support U.S. financial stability or prevent or reduce systemic risk.
Active
Jan 12, 2017
Agreed to in House
1
Sponsorship
House Amendment 40
Amendment requires the SEC consider the protection of investors, in addition to promoting efficiency, competition, and capital formation when conducting such a review and also expressly instructs the SEC to consider the public interest, the protection of investors as well as the promotion of efficiency, competition, and capital formation when conducting such a review of existing SEC regulations.
Agreed To
Jan 12, 2017
Not Agreed to in House
1
Sponsorship
House Amendment 39
Amendment sought to require the SEC to identify, analyze and address potential conflicts of interest related to its rulemakings.
Active
Public Record
Record Updated
Jan 11, 2023 1:34:13 PM