Congressman Patrick McHenry, the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, has issued a statement applauding the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule change today that seeks to improve and simplify the exempt offering ecosystem.
Congressman McHenry stated:
“Today’s action by the SEC will help small businesses, their employees, and Main Street investors—while maintaining important protections. To ensure a widespread economic recovery, we need to provide our small businesses with every opportunity to raise capital to keep and create jobs. We also need to give investors the opportunity to fund these small businesses and share in their success. I’m glad to see the SEC finalize these long-overdue improvements to the exempt offering framework and Regulation Crowdfunding to do just that.”
McHenry has long been a Fintech advocate and a champion of the little guy. Over the years, the Congressman has consistently advocated on behalf of common-sense legislation and rulemaking in support of SMEs as well as online capital formation. McHenry helped to author the JOBS Act of 2012, the bi-partisan legislation that legalized investment crowdfunding.
This past June, McHenry wrote a letter in support of the SEC’s efforts to help small businesses and expand investment opportunities for Main Street investors by simplifying the exempt offering framework, which has become too complex over the last several decades.
The SEC’s decision today saw multiple improvements to rules utilized to raise capital including Reg A+ and Reg CF – two exemptions frequently leveraged by issuers raising capital online. The update was part of a long process that garnered the support of crowdfunding advocates as well as individuals recognizing the importance of SMEs to the US economy.