As Liz shared last week, the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has a dashboard that shows which rules have been sent for interagency review — which is required for significant SEC proposals before they are sent to the Commissioners for a vote. At that time, two proposals were already pending review. Shortly after she directed our attention to that site last week, the SEC sent two more proposed rules to OIRA, and the dashboard now lists “Enhancement of Emerging Growth Company Accommodations and Simplification of Filer Status for Reporting Companies” & “Registered Offerings Reform.” Wow! That means four proposed rules are currently pending review:

– Crypto Assets
– Semiannual Reporting
– Enhancement of Emerging Growth Company Accommodations and Simplification of Filer Status for Reporting Companies
– Registered Offerings Reform

Let’s talk timing. Liz shared that OIRA review of independent agency rulemaking lasted 17 days on average, with 29 days being the longest, in the last 6 months. That said, OIRA has up to 90 days (which can be extended) to review a rule, and the two SEC proposals submitted a few weeks ago have been pending review since March 20 (Crypto) and March 27 (Semiannual Reporting). All of these are major rulemakings, so I assume they will take some time for the White House and every other agency to review.

Let’s talk substance. We have some inkling of what two of these proposals look like in their current form. Corp Fin Director Jim Moloney shared thoughts on semi-annual reporting and registered offering reform during the ABA Business Law Section’s “Dialogue with the Director” earlier this month. (As always, these are “Jim’s own thoughts,” but we’re hearing consistent messaging in Chair and Commissioner speeches as well.)

Let’s get to know OIRA. Our new regulatory crystal ball, OIRA (pronounced “oh-eye-ruh”), is part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and responsible for coordinating interagency Executive Branch review of significant regulations before publication. It has been around for a long time (so has the dashboard), but as watchers of the SEC, we weren’t accustomed to checking it because the SEC was exempted. That is, until this year, so add this to your bookmarks or know we’ll be regularly checking on your behalf and sharing here.

We’ll also be sharing here when we see some open meetings scheduled or other indications that these proposals are moving forward and heading to the Commissioners. Stay tuned!

– Meredith Ervine