Recently, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced legislation that, if enacted into law and implemented accordingly, would dramatically change the course of beneficial ownership reporting for purposes of the federal securities laws. Referred to as the Brokaw Act, the legislation is reportedly named for a small town in Wisconsin that went bankrupt after an out-of-state hedge fund closed a paper mill that provided jobs to the town for over 100 years. The aim of the bill is to increase transparency and strengthen oversight of activist hedge funds, and it could potentially provide companies with the ability to respond more quickly to takeover threats.