[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1965 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1965

 To exempt smaller public companies from requirements relating to the 
use of Extensible Business Reporting Language for periodic reporting to 
    the Securities and Exchange Commission, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 22, 2015

Mr. Hurt of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To exempt smaller public companies from requirements relating to the 
use of Extensible Business Reporting Language for periodic reporting to 
    the Securities and Exchange Commission, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Small Company Disclosure 
Simplification Act''.

SEC. 2. EXEMPTION FROM XBRL REQUIREMENTS FOR EMERGING GROWTH COMPANIES 
              AND OTHER SMALLER COMPANIES.

    (a) Exemption for Emerging Growth Companies.--Emerging growth 
companies are exempted from the requirements to use Extensible Business 
Reporting Language (XBRL) for financial statements and other periodic 
reporting required to be filed with the Commission under the securities 
laws. Such companies may elect to use XBRL for such reporting.
    (b) Exemption for Other Smaller Companies.--Issuers with total 
annual gross revenues of less than $250,000,000 are exempt from the 
requirements to use XBRL for financial statements and other periodic 
reporting required to be filed with the Commission under the securities 
laws. Such issuers may elect to use XBRL for such reporting. An 
exemption under this subsection shall continue in effect until--
            (1) the date that is five years after the date of enactment 
        of this Act; or
            (2) the date that is two years after a determination by the 
        Commission, by order after conducting the analysis required by 
        section 3, that the benefits of such requirements to such 
        issuers outweigh the costs, but no earlier than three years 
        after enactment of this Act.
    (c) Modifications to Regulations.--Not later than 60 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall revise its 
regulations under parts 229, 230, 232, 239, 240, and 249 of title 17, 
Code of Federal Regulations, to reflect the exemptions set forth in 
subsections (a) and (b).

SEC. 3. ANALYSIS BY THE SEC.

    The Commission shall conduct an analysis of the costs and benefits 
to issuers described in section 2(b) of the requirements to use XBRL 
for financial statements and other periodic reporting required to be 
filed with the Commission under the securities laws. Such analysis 
shall include an assessment of--
            (1) how such costs and benefits may differ from the costs 
        and benefits identified by the Commission in the order relating 
        to interactive data to improve financial reporting (dated 
        January 30, 2009; 74 Fed. Reg. 6776) because of the size of 
        such issuers;
            (2) the effects on efficiency, competition, capital 
        formation, and financing and on analyst coverage of such 
        issuers (including any such effects resulting from use of XBRL 
        by investors);
            (3) the costs to such issuers of--
                    (A) submitting data to the Commission in XBRL;
                    (B) posting data on the website of the issuer in 
                XBRL;
                    (C) software necessary to prepare, submit, or post 
                data in XBRL; and
                    (D) any additional consulting services or filing 
                agent services;
            (4) the benefits to the Commission in terms of improved 
        ability to monitor securities markets, assess the potential 
        outcomes of regulatory alternatives, and enhance investor 
        participation in corporate governance and promote capital 
        formation; and
            (5) the effectiveness of standards in the United States for 
        interactive filing data relative to the standards of 
        international counterparts.

SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Commission shall provide the Committee on Financial Services of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs of the Senate a report regarding--
            (1) the progress in implementing XBRL reporting within the 
        Commission;
            (2) the use of XBRL data by Commission officials;
            (3) the use of XBRL data by investors;
            (4) the results of the analysis required by section 3; and
            (5) any additional information the Commission considers 
        relevant for increasing transparency, decreasing costs, and 
        increasing efficiency of regulatory filings with the 
        Commission.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act, the terms ``Commission'', ``emerging growth 
company'', ``issuer'', and ``securities laws'' have the meanings given 
such terms in section 3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 
U.S.C. 78c).
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