SEC Regulatory Accountability Act

SEC Regulatory Accountability Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to:

• before issuing a regulation under the securities laws, identify the nature and source of the problem that the proposed regulation is designed to address;
• adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned determination that its benefits justify its costs;
• identify and assess available alternatives to any regulation; and
• ensure that any regulation is accessible, consistent, written in plain language, and easy to understand.

In determining the costs and benefits of a proposed regulation, the SEC shall consider its impact on investor choice, market liquidity, and small businesses.

In addition, the SEC shall: (1) periodically review its existing regulations to determine if they are outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome; and (2) in accordance with such review, modify, streamline, expand, or repeal them.

Whenever it adopts or amends a rule that is "major" (in terms of economic impact), the SEC shall state in its adopting release: (1) the regulation's purposes and intended consequences, (2) metrics for measuring the regulation's economic impact, (3) the assessment plan to be used to assess whether the regulation has achieved its stated purposes, and (4) any foreseeable unintended or negative consequences of the regulation.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov