Union Calendar No. 91
116th CONGRESS 1st Session |
[Report No. 116–123]
To require the Securities and Exchange Commission, when developing rules and regulations about disclosures to retail investors, to conduct investor testing, including a survey and interviews of retail investors, and for other purposes.
March 18, 2019
Mr. Casten of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
June 20, 2019
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 18, 2019]
To require the Securities and Exchange Commission, when developing rules and regulations about disclosures to retail investors, to conduct investor testing, including a survey and interviews of retail investors, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
(a) In general.—Section 23(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78w(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(4) Investor testing.—
“(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall engage in investor testing prior to issuing any rule or regulation which designates documents or information to be disclosed under the securities laws, if such documents or information—
“(B) CONTENTS.—Investor testing conducted pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall include the following:
“(i) Qualitative testing in the form of one-on-one cognitive interviews of retail investors about documents or information, or samples of such documents or information, to be provided.
“(ii) A nationwide survey of retail investors, designed to complement the interviews under clause (i), on—
“(C) SUBSTANTIVE CHANGES.—If the Commission, in the period between engaging in investor testing and publishing a final rule, makes substantive changes to such rule that the Commission determines would have a significant impact on retail investors, the Commission shall again engage in investor testing.
(b) Participation of Investor Advocate.—Section 4(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78d(g)) is amended—
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(9) PUBLICATION OF DATA AND RESULTS OF INVESTOR TESTING.—With respect to any investor testing carried out by the Investor Advocate pursuant to paragraph (4)(E), the Investor Advocate may make the data and results of such investor testing available to the public, and without further review or editing by the Commission.”.
(c) Prior rules.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—For any final rule or regulation issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (in this subsection referred to as the “Commission”) before the date of the enactment of this Act that would be subject to investor testing under section 23(a)(4) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, had such rule been issued on or after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall perform investor testing with respect to such rule or regulation that includes the contents described in such section 23(a)(4).
(2) SCHEDULE.—The Commission shall, not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, establish a schedule for completing any investor testing required under paragraph (1) that prioritizes testing of any final rules and regulations that designate documents or information central to retail investor decision making.
(3) REPORT.—The Commission shall issue a report to Congress each year containing the following:
Union Calendar No. 91 | |||||
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[Report No. 116–123] | |||||
A BILL | |||||
To require the Securities and Exchange Commission, when developing rules and regulations about
disclosures to retail investors, to conduct investor testing, including a
survey and interviews of retail investors, and for other purposes. | |||||
June 20, 2019 | |||||
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the
Union, and ordered to be printed |