[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 74 (Monday, May 1, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2980-H2981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1645
            SMALL BUSINESS CAPITAL FORMATION ENHANCEMENT ACT

  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 1312) to amend the Small Business Investment Incentive Act of 
1980 to require an annual review by the Securities and Exchange 
Commission of the annual government-business forum on capital formation 
that is held pursuant to such Act, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1312

       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 Business Capital 
     Formation Enhancement Act''.

     SEC. 2. ANNUAL REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT-BUSINESS FORUM ON CAPITAL 
                   FORMATION.

       Section 503 of the Small Business Investment Incentive Act 
     of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 80c-1) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(e) The Commission shall--
       ``(1) review the findings and recommendations of the forum; 
     and
       ``(2) each time the forum submits a finding or 
     recommendation to the Commission, promptly issue a public 
     statement--
       ``(A) assessing the finding or recommendation of the forum; 
     and
       ``(B) disclosing the action, if any, the Commission intends 
     to take with respect to the finding or recommendation.
       ``(f) Forum Findings.--Nothing in this section shall 
     require the Commission to agree to or act upon any finding or 
     recommendation of the forum.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hill) and the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on this bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arkansas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 1312, the Small Business 
Capital Formation Enhancement Act, which would require the Securities 
and Exchange Commission to respond to the recommendations from its 
annual forum on small business capital formation.
  Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, and, according 
to the SBA, have provided 55 percent of all jobs and 66 percent of all 
net new jobs over the past 40 years. These small

[[Page H2981]]

businesses are intimately familiar with their businesses and the 
regulatory environment, and who better to provide insights to 
regulators and lawmakers on how to best provide and promote capital 
formation and remove unnecessary regulatory barriers and burdens?
  Nearly four decades ago, in 1980, Congress recognized the importance 
of our small-business owners and their having a voice and sharing their 
recommendations with the SEC, and Congress required the SEC to conduct 
an annual forum to review the current status and issues surrounding 
small business capital formation. But while the Commission is required 
to conduct this forum, its obligation goes no further.
  Though the SEC often praises this small business forum and the 
insights and recommendations from the small business community, the SEC 
has no obligation to respond to or act on the forum's recommendations 
and findings and has rarely done so. For example, many of the 
provisions of the JOBS Act came from recommendations from the small 
business forum, but it was Congress who had to move forward with these 
ideas, not the SEC.
  This commonsense bill introduced by Mr. Poliquin and Mr. Vargas would 
require the SEC to formally respond to these recommendations just like 
they legally have to acknowledge and respond to recommendations from 
their Investor Advisory Committee. Similar legislation passed the House 
last Congress by a nearly unanimous vote, and, earlier this year, H.R. 
1312 passed the House Financial Services Committee by a unanimous vote.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill, 
and I thank, again, my good friends from Maine and from California for 
their hard work on this bipartisan bill that ensures the voice of our 
small business community is heard.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1312, a commonsense measure 
that will ensure the SEC responds to recommendations that will reduce 
barriers to small businesses' capital formation. Access to capital is 
the lifeblood of every business. As ranking member of the House Small 
Business Committee, I hear this on a near daily basis. It is as true 
today as it was 65 years ago when Congress created the Small Business 
Administration.
  Since that time, Congress has taken steps to better understand the 
needs of our small businesses and find ways to improve access to 
capital. In 1980, we created the Government-Business Forum on Small 
Business Capital Formation at the SEC. This body helps policymakers 
learn about unnecessary impediments to small business capital formation 
and address how they can be eliminated or reduced. However, the SEC 
isn't currently required to act on the forum's recommendations.
  The Small Business Capital Formation Enhancement Act changes the 
SEC's obligation by requiring the Commission to respond to the 
recommendations made by the annual Government-Business Forum. This bill 
is modeled after a similar provision in the Dodd-Frank Act requiring 
the SEC to respond to the recommendation of the Investor Advisory 
Committee.
  However, there are important distinctions between the recommendations 
of the IAC and the forum. Specifically, the IAC is limited by statute 
to 23 members. By contrast, the forum is open to all public and private 
participants. As a result, the IAC has only issued 12 recommendations 
since its first meeting in 2012. During the same timeframe, the forum 
issued 98 recommendations.
  While I understand the desire to have the SEC respond to each of the 
forum's recommendations, I would remind my colleagues that the SEC has 
the important duty to police our financial markets. Therefore, I hope 
my colleagues will remember these additional duties and set appropriate 
funding levels for the SEC to ensure agency resources are not being 
diverted from its crucial examination and enforcement activities.
  I would like to thank Mr. Poliquin and Mr. Vargas for crafting this 
bipartisan bill to ensure that the voice of our small business 
community is heard.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support this legislation, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, again, I appreciate the gentlewoman from New 
York's views and her helpful work on this legislation.
  We have lost over the last 20 years some 50 percent of our public 
companies. When I was getting out of college, one of the great dreams 
in business would be that you could have a company that was so 
successful that you could go public. Over the years, obviously that 
process has made it more and more difficult for our entrepreneurs to 
pursue their dream of a public company.
  So what better way to make sure their voice about our rules, our 
laws, the process of being public, and the process of registering and 
disclosing is all made in a way that does not discourage our 
entrepreneurs and our small-business people from pursuing that dream of 
going public.

  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. 
Poliquin), my distinguished friend who serves on the House Financial 
Services Committee and is a gentleman who is a voice for small business 
at every meeting of the House Financial Services Committee.
  Mr. POLIQUIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, and I appreciate it 
very much. I do want to thank the Congresswoman from New York and also 
Congressman Juan Vargas of California who stepped up as the lead 
cosponsor of this legislation.
  As Mr. Hill mentioned a moment ago, about two-thirds of our new jobs 
in the last decade have been created by small business. This is the 
bloodline of our economy, and certainly in Maine, Mr. Speaker, where we 
are a State and a district of small businesses, this is very particular 
to my interest.
  Those of us who have run small businesses know that one of the 
biggest challenges you have is how to borrow money--access to capital--
because unless you have access to capital and unless you have the funds 
you need to grow and expand, you can't create new opportunities and new 
jobs for our kids and our grandkids. So access to capital is absolutely 
critical when it comes to growing our economy and providing more 
opportunities for the next generation.
  As has already been said today, the SEC holds these annual forums 
where small-business leaders who are on the ground creating jobs and 
those in the public sector get together, and they review and explore 
new ways and better ways to change the regulations and the rules we 
have in this country such that access to capital is enhanced.
  What better idea; what more common sense do we need than to have a 
bill, H.R. 1312, that I am very proud to sponsor, that requires the SEC 
to assess every recommendation by this forum every year--not 
necessarily act upon it, but take it off the shelf, assess it, and 
determine if action should be taken.
  I want to thank all the folks who have participated in our forums 
over the years, both the public and the private sector, and I ask, Mr. 
Speaker, that all my colleagues in this House, Republicans and 
Democrats, please support H.R. 1312.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 1312, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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