The House Financial Services Committee voted to approve and refer to full House vote various capital formation related bills, including the Small Business Capital Formation Enhancement Act, HR 4168, requiring the Securities and Exchange Commission to respond to findings and recommendations of the SEC’s Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation, and the Small Business Advocate Act of 2015, HR 3784, which requires that the Commission establish an Office for Small Business Capital Formation and the Small Business Advisory Committee within the Commission.  We have previously reported on these two.

Also today, the Committee approved the Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act, HR 2187, introduced by Congressman Schweikert, which modifies the definition of an “accredited investor” to include “any natural person who is currently licensed or registered as a broker or investment adviser by the Commission, FINRA, or an equivalent SRO or the securities division of a state licensing agency, as well as “any natural person the Commission determines, by regulation, to have demonstrable education or job experience to qualify such person as having professional knowledge of a subject related to the particular investment, and whose education or job experience is verified by FINRA or another SRO.

See the text of HR 2187 here:  http://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-hr2187-s001183-amdt-001.pdf.

As we previously reported, representatives of the Commission have stated publicly that the accredited investor study is nearing completion.