Under current law, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) exempts certain issuers of securities from the requirement to register as an investment company and some regulations that apply to investment companies. S. 444 would expand that exemption to include a broader set of issuers.
Based on an analysis of information from the SEC about the current scope of the exemption, CBO estimates that implementing S. 444 would have no significant effect on the agency’s costs or operations because only a relatively small number of companies would qualify for the broader exemption. Moreover, the SEC is authorized to collect fees sufficient to offset its annual appropriation; therefore, CBO estimates that the net effect on discretionary spending would be negligible, assuming appropriation actions consistent with that authority.
Enacting S. 444 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting S. 444 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
S. 444 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
On March 22, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 1219, the Supporting America’s Innovators Act of 2017, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Financial Services on March 9, 2017. The two bills are similar and CBO’s estimate of their budgetary effects is the same.
