[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8239 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8239

To improve the consideration by the Securities and Exchange Commission 
 of the costs and benefits of regulations and orders of the Commission.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 2, 2024

Mrs. Wagner (for herself, Mr. Garbarino, Mr. Nunn of Iowa, Mr. Meuser, 
 Mr. Huizenga, and Mr. Emmer) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To improve the consideration by the Securities and Exchange Commission 
 of the costs and benefits of regulations and orders of the Commission.

    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 ``SEC Regulatory Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. CONSIDERATION BY THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OF THE 
              COSTS AND BENEFITS OF REGULATIONS AND CERTAIN OTHER 
              AGENCY ACTIONS OF THE COMMISSION.

    Section 23 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78w) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Consideration of Costs and Benefits.--
            ``(1) Considerations before proposing a regulation.--Before 
        proposing a regulation, the Commission shall--
                    ``(A) clearly identify the nature and source of the 
                problem that the regulation is designed to address, as 
                well as assess the significance of that problem, to 
                enable assessment of whether any new regulation is 
                warranted; and
                    ``(B) ensure that the regulation would be within 
                the Commission's jurisdiction and that the Commission 
                has sufficient experience and expertise to regulate the 
                subject matter covered by the regulation.
            ``(2) Requirements for issuing a proposed or final 
        regulation.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In issuing a proposed or final 
                regulation, the Commission shall--
                            ``(i) clearly identify the market 
                        participants who will be impacted by the 
                        regulation;
                            ``(ii) utilize the Chief Economist of the 
                        Commission to assess the costs and benefits, 
                        both qualitative and quantitative, of the 
                        regulation, both on the regulation's own and 
                        cumulatively with other existing and proposed 
                        regulations;
                            ``(iii) only issue the regulation if the 
                        Commission makes a reasoned determination that 
                        the benefits of the regulation justify the 
                        costs of the regulation;
                            ``(iv) identify and assess available 
                        alternatives to the regulation that were 
                        considered, including modification of an 
                        existing regulation;
                            ``(v) ensure that the regulation is 
                        accessible, consistent, written in plain 
                        language, and easy to understand; and
                            ``(vi) ensure that the length of the public 
                        comment period is commensurate with the 
                        complexity of the regulation and the expected 
                        public interest in the rulemaking.
                    ``(B) Inclusion of information in a proposed or 
                final regulation.--In issuing a proposed or final 
                regulation, the Commission shall include in the 
                regulation--
                            ``(i) the results of the identifications 
                        and assessments required under clauses (i) and 
                        (ii) of subparagraph (A) with respect to the 
                        regulation;
                            ``(ii) an explanation of why the regulation 
                        meets the regulatory objectives of the 
                        Commission more effectively than other 
                        available alternatives, including modification 
                        of an existing regulation;
                            ``(iii) a description of how the Commission 
                        intends the regulation to interact with 
                        existing regulations and proposed regulations; 
                        and
                            ``(iv) a justification of the length of the 
                        public comment period for the regulation.
            ``(3) Considerations and actions.--
                    ``(A) Required actions.--In deciding whether and 
                how to regulate, the Commission shall assess the costs 
                and benefits of available regulatory alternatives, 
                including the alternative of not regulating, and choose 
                the approach that maximizes net benefits. Specifically, 
                the Commission shall--
                            ``(i) consistent with the requirements of 
                        section 3(f) (15 U.S.C. 78c(f)), section 2(b) 
                        of the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 
                        77b(b)), section 202(c) of the Investment 
                        Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b-2(c)), and 
                        section 2(c) of the Investment Company Act of 
                        1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-2(c)), consider whether a 
                        rulemaking (both on the regulation's own and 
                        cumulatively with other existing and proposed 
                        regulations), in addition to being in the 
                        interest of protecting investors, will promote 
                        efficiency, competition, and capital formation;
                            ``(ii) evaluate whether, consistent with 
                        obtaining regulatory objectives, a regulation 
                        (both on the regulation's own and cumulatively 
                        with other existing and proposed regulations) 
                        is tailored to impose the least burden on 
                        society, including market participants, 
                        individuals, businesses of differing sizes, and 
                        other entities (including State and local 
                        governmental entities), taking into account, to 
                        the extent practicable, the cumulative costs of 
                        regulations; and
                            ``(iii) evaluate whether a regulation is 
                        inconsistent, incompatible, or duplicative of 
                        other Federal regulations.
                    ``(B) Additional considerations.--In addition, in 
                making a reasoned determination under paragraph 
                (2)(A)(iii) of the costs and benefits of a regulation, 
                the Commission shall, to the extent that each is 
                relevant to the particular regulation, take into 
                consideration the impact of the regulation on--
                            ``(i) investor choice;
                            ``(ii) market liquidity in the securities 
                        markets;
                            ``(iii) small businesses;
                            ``(iv) competition in the marketplace;
                            ``(v) investor access; and
                            ``(vi) the United States economic 
                        competitiveness.
            ``(4) Post-adoption impact assessment.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Whenever the Commission issues a 
                final regulation that is a `major rule' (as defined 
                under section 804 of title 5, United States Code), it 
                shall state, in the regulation, the following:
                            ``(i) The purposes and intended 
                        consequences of the regulation.
                            ``(ii) Appropriate post-implementation 
                        quantitative and qualitative metrics to measure 
                        the economic impact of the regulation and to 
                        measure the extent to which the regulation has 
                        accomplished the stated purposes.
                            ``(iii) The assessment plan that will be 
                        used, consistent with the requirements of 
                        subparagraph (B) and under the supervision of 
                        the Chief Economist, to assess whether the 
                        regulation has achieved the stated purposes.
                            ``(iv) Any unintended or negative 
                        consequences that the Commission foresees may 
                        result from the regulation.
                    ``(B) Requirements of assessment plan and report.--
                            ``(i) Requirements of plan.--For each 
                        regulation described under subparagraph (A), 
                        the Chief Economist shall establish an 
                        assessment plan, which shall--
                                    ``(I) consider the costs, benefits, 
                                and intended and unintended 
                                consequences of the regulation;
                                    ``(II) specify the data to be 
                                collected, the methods for collection 
                                and analysis of the data, and a date 
                                for completion of the assessment; and
                                    ``(III) include an analysis of any 
                                jobs added or lost as a result of the 
                                regulation, differentiating between 
                                public and private sector jobs.
                            ``(ii) Timing of assessment plan report.--A 
                        report on each completed assessment plan 
                        described under clause (i) shall be submitted 
                        by the Chief Economist to the Commission not 
                        later than the end of the 4-year period 
                        beginning on the date the applicable regulation 
                        is issued, unless the Commission, at the 
                        request of the Chief Economist, publishes at 
                        least 90 days before the end of such period a 
                        notice in the Federal Register extending the 
                        date and providing specific reasons why an 
                        extension is necessary.
                            ``(iii) Public comment.--Not later than 7 
                        days after the Commission receives an 
                        assessment plan report under clause (ii), the 
                        Commission shall publish the report in the 
                        Federal Register for public comment.
            ``(5) Regulation defined.--In this subsection, the term 
        `regulation'--
                    ``(A) means an agency statement of general 
                applicability and future effect that is designed to 
                implement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy or to 
                describe the procedure or practice requirements of an 
                agency, including rules, orders of general 
                applicability, interpretive releases, and other 
                statements of general applicability that the agency 
                intends to have the force and effect of law; and
                    ``(B) does not include--
                            ``(i) a regulation issued in accordance 
                        with the formal rulemaking provisions of 
                        section 556 or 557 of title 5, United States 
                        Code;
                            ``(ii) a regulation that is limited to 
                        agency organization, management, or personnel 
                        matters;
                            ``(iii) a regulation promulgated pursuant 
                        to statutory authority that expressly prohibits 
                        compliance with this provision; and
                            ``(iv) a regulation that is certified by 
                        the agency to be an emergency action, if such 
                        certification is published in the Federal 
                        Register.''.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS RELATING TO OTHER REGULATORY ENTITIES.

    It is the sense of the Congress that the Public Company Accounting 
Oversight Board should also follow the requirements of section 23(e) of 
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as added by section 2.

SEC. 4. ACCOUNTABILITY PROVISION RELATING TO OTHER REGULATORY ENTITIES.

    A rule adopted by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board or any 
national securities association registered under section 15A of the 
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78o-3) shall not take effect 
unless the Securities and Exchange Commission determines that, in 
adopting such rule, the Board or association has complied with the 
requirements of section 23(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 
as added by section 2, in the same manner as is required by the 
Commission under such section 23(e).
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