SEC Chair Mary Jo White testified in support of the President’s fiscal year fiscal 2014 budget request for the SEC before the Senate Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, Committee on Appropriations.

As a first key priority, she stated the SEC must complete, quickly and thoughtfully, the rulemaking mandates contained in the Dodd-Frank Act and JOBS Act.  She noted that part of the $1.674 billion request for fiscal 2014 would be spent on enhancing reviews of corporate disclosures — including supporting implementation of the JOBS Act.  Ms. White elaborated that the SEC requested 25 new positions for the Division of Corporation Finance. These positions would permit the SEC to hire additional attorneys and accountants to continue to enhance the Division’s reviews of large companies, and prepare, finalize, and implement the remaining rules and projects under the Dodd-Frank Act and the JOBS Act, including responding to requests for interpretive guidance with respect to new rules. Further, the additional positions would allow the Division to enhance its review of SEC rules and regulations impacting small business capital formation and better evaluate trends in increasingly complex offerings.

Speaking to progress under the JOBS Act, Ms. White noted that SEC rulewriting teams also have been working on recommendations for the Commission’s consideration with respect to JOBS Act rulemakings concerning general solicitation, crowdfunding, an exemption from registration for public offerings up to $50 million, and thresholds for registration and deregistration under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act.  With respect to removal of the ban on general solicitation, she said the Commission and the staff continue to work diligently on completing the rule and on the recommendations for each of the other rulemaking mandates of the JOBS Act.

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