With the House of Representatives’ change in political control, the Republicans are taking some steps to cut back on Dodd-Frank. Earlier this week the House Committee on Financial Services distributed a press release about five potential bills that would revise the financial service legislation:
- The Asset-Backed Market Stabilization Act
- The Small Company Capital Formation Act
- The Small Business Capital Access and Job Preservation Act
- The Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act
- The Burdensome Data Collection Relief Act
Besides the sensationalist graphics, the Small Business Capital Access and Job Preservation Act caught my attention because it is targeted at private equity fund managers:
The Financial Services Committee has received testimony regarding the role private equity firms play in preserving existing jobs and creating new ones by providing capital to struggling and growing companies. The Dodd-Frank Act requires most advisers to private investment funds to register with the SEC, including advisers to private equity funds. The Small Business Capital Access and Job Preservation Act exempts advisers to private equity funds from the registration requirements. The draft legislation will be sponsored by Representative Robert Hurt.
It sounds like a nice bill. But I’m skeptical that it could enacted before the July 21 deadline for private equity fund managers to register under Dodd-Frank (assuming it could pass at all).
The Committee is holding testimony on Wednesday, March 16 at 2 p.m. in room 2128 Rayburn. Scheduled to appear are:
- Kenneth A. Bertsch, President and CEO, Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals
- Tom Deutsch, Executive Director, American Securitization Forum
- Pam Hendrickson, Chief Operating Officer, The Riverside Company
- David Weild, Senior Advisor, Grant Thornton, LLP
- Luke Zubrod, Director, Chatham Financial
The text of the proposed legislation is just in the form of discussion drafts and I have not been able to find copies. I’m sure much will hinge on the definition of “private equity fund managers” just as Dodd-Frank created a new category of venture capital fund managers.
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