TheCorporateCounsel.net

April 10, 2012

White House to Monitor JOBS Act: Sort Of

When President Obama signed the JOBS Act last week, he issued this statement that includes this excerpt:

The President is directing the Treasury Department, Small Business Administration and Department of Justice to closely monitor the implementation of this legislation to ensure that it is achieving its goals of enhancing access capital while maintaining appropriate investor protections. These agencies, consulting closely with the SEC and key non-governmental stakeholders, will report their findings to the President on a biannual basis, and will include recommendations for additional necessary steps to ensure that the legislation achieves its goals.

No doubt this is a reaction to the many Democrats who railed against the JOBS Act over the past month (and the response of some in Congress to reporter’s questions of whether they would monitor its consequences – the answer which was ‘no’ – at least they are honest about that!). But it’s just so strange – and unfortunately predictable these days – that the leaders in our government don’t even seem to know who should be minding the store. The Treasury, SBA and DOJ monitoring the securities laws? So I guess the SEC should be monitoring food and drugs…

Will the JOBS Act Rulemaking Impact the SEC’s Dodd-Frank Rulemaking Schedule?

Many members have emailed asking whether the slew of JOBS Act rulemaking ahead of Corp Fin will impact the timing of its Dodd-Frank rulemaking projects. Although I haven’t heard anyone from Corp Fin address this yet – and the SEC’s Dodd-Frank Implementation Schedule hasn’t changed – I can’t see how it won’t given the incredibly tight timeframe in which the Staff has to work.

How tight? Keith Bishop notes how the timeframe is so tight for the JOBS Act rulemaking – in his blog entitled “The SEC’s Rule Making Rule Doesn’t Follow The Rules” – that it might be impossible to finish under the President’s recent rulemaking directive…

Dodd-Frank: The SEC Finally Establishes the New “Investor Advisory Committee”

However, the SEC continues to plug away at its Dodd-Frank obligations – yesterday, it announced the formation of the new “Investor Advisory Committee” that was mandated by Section 911 of Dodd-Frank. Among the 21 members of the new committee is Steve Wallman – the tech guru that doubled as a SEC Commissioner in the ’90s who hasn’t been heard from much during the past decade…

– Broc Romanek