Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, French Hill, has provided some insight into their legislative plans for the fall. Representative Hill was chatting with the Banking with Interest Podcast, put out by IntraFi.
Congress has already approved stablecoin legislation, which the Committee led. The GENIUS Act is now poised to usher in the future of payments due to the legislation that was originated in the Committee.
Regarding capital formation, a key policy that drives economic growth and wealth creation, Chairman Hill says:
“We want to take a page from the bipartisan success over the last decade of the JOBS Act. We want to make it easier for investors to access investments, both in the public and private markets… We’ll also look at what we can do to improve equity market structure and the Treasury market structure in this Congress.”
Part of this is to reform the definition of an Accredited Investor. Currently, the rule discriminates against individuals who participate in private securities offerings, primarily those under Reg D, due to insufficient wealth. The Reg D marketplace is enormous, and most promising early-stage firms utilize the exemption to raise capital before going public. Hill notes they have “three bills that would expand the ability for Americans to participate through changing the accredited investor standard.”
The Chairman also wants to lower the cost of becoming a public company, something that is desperately needed.
As most people are aware, the number of public firms has been in decline for several years. This is due to over-regulation and the resulting high costs of compliance. At the same time, there is a vast pool of private capital eager to invest in private firms with solid prospects.
Regarding the CLARITY Act, the market infrastructure legislation for the nascent digital asset ecosystem, Congress is waiting on the Senate. In the House, the legislation was able to garner 78 Democrats to support the bill. Chairman Hill is optimistic they can corral Democrats who are “pro-innovation, pro-capital formation, pro-American competitiveness” to get the bill to pass.
Also on the agenda is a mission to tailor regulation to support smaller banks. The Committee also wants to address challenges in the housing market with a Committee hearing expected to review policy in October.
