On June 7, in a speech to the Economic Club of New York, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling announced the Republican plan to replace the Dodd-Frank Act. The Financial Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs (CHOICE) Act is set to be introduced as legislation later this month. The Financial CHOICE Act proposes to end taxpayer-funded bailouts of large financial institutions; relieve banks that elect to be strongly capitalized from, what Hensarling called, "growth-strangling regulation"; impose tougher penalties on those who commit fraud; and hold Washington regulators more accountable.
An executive summary, made available on the House Financial Services Committee webpage, outlines the various components of the Financial CHOICE Act. Included in the proposal for the Financial CHOICE Act is the incorporation of various pending legislation focused on reducing regulatory burden on capital formation for small businesses. These bills would include: H.R. 1090 (Retail Investor Protection Act), H.R. 4168 (Small Business Capital Formation Enhancement Act), H.R. 4498 (Helping Angels Lead Our Startups "HALOS" Act) and H.R. 5019 (Fair Access to Investment Research Act).
In his speech, Hensarling called the Financial CHOICE Act "the foundation of the Republican plan to reignite growth...with real reforms that work." We will continue to monitor developments of the Financial CHOICE Act on this blog.
Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
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