The Senate Banking Committee recently considered various securities-related bills, including the following:
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S. 536 Cybersecurity Disclosure Act, which would require that a public company disclose whether a cybersecurity expert is on its board of directors;
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The 8-K Trading Gap Act of 2018, which would ban trading by insiders during the period of time between when directors and officers become aware of material nonpublic information and the date on which such information is disclosed in a Current Report on Form 8-K;
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S. 588 Helping Angels Lead Our Startups Act, or the HALOS Act, which clarifies whether certain communications, including presentations made at demo days and similar events, would constitute general solicitation;
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S. 2126 Fostering Innovation Act of 2017, which would extend the Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404(b) exemption for an additional five years for former emerging growth companies (EGCs) that maintain a public float below $700 million and average annual revenues below $50 million; and
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S. 2347 Encouraging Public Offerings Act of 2018, which would extend the ability to test the waters to non-EGCs.
While it is not clear whether these and some of the proposed bills introduced in the House of Representatives will be adopted or even consolidated into “JOBS Act 2.0”- type legislation, many of these are consistent with the recommendations contained in the U.S. Treasury’s report on capital markets, as well as with measures introduced in prior sessions of Congress that garnered bipartisan support.
