Patrick McHenryChairman

Washington, April 23, 2016 -

WASHINGTON- Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) today announced the committee’s schedule for the week of April 25:

Wednesday, April 27 at 10:00 A.M. –  The Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “How Can the U.S. Make Development Banks More Accountable?”

All committee activity will take place in Room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Additional information, including a list of witnesses and live video of the proceedings, will be available on the Committee’s website. 

Additionally, the House of Representatives will consider four Financial Services Committee bills.

H.R. 4498, the “Helping Angels Lead Our Startups Act” (HALOS Act)

Sponsor: Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH)

H.R. 4498 ensures that startup companies can connect with angel investors without inadvertently violating SEC rules.  The bill amends the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act) to define an “angel investor group” and to clarify the definition of general solicitation to ensure that startup enterprises are able to continue to “demo” their business at certain events, even when there is no specific investment offering.

H.R. 4498 passed the Financial Services Committee on March 2, 2016 by a vote of 44-13.

H.R 4096, the “Investor Clarity and Bank Parity Act”

Sponsors: Reps. Michael Capuano (D-MA) and Steve Stivers (R-OH)

H.R. 4096 amends Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act, also known as the Volcker Rule, to correct a statutory error that the five federal regulators charged with implementing the Volcker Rule (the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) cannot fix with their regulatory authority.  When these five federal regulators adopted the Volcker Rule in December 2013, the final rule limited the ability of bank holding companies and their affiliates, which would include investment advisers, to sponsor covered funds.  Consequently, a covered fund cannot use the name of a sponsor.  H.R. 4096 eliminates this prohibition and simply allows an investment adviser to share a similar name with a covered fund.

H.R. 4096 passed the Financial Services Committee on March 2, 2016 by voice vote.

H.R. 2901, the “Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act of 2015”

Sponsors: Reps. Dennis Ross (R-FL) and Patrick Murphy (D-FL)

H.R. 2901 amends the Flood Disaster Protection Act to clarify that flood insurance offered by a private carrier outside of the National Flood Insurance Program can satisfy the Act’s mandatory purchase requirement.

H.R. 2901 passed the Financial Services Committee on March 2, 2016 by a vote of 53-0.

H.R. 5019, the “Fair Access to Investment Research Act of 2016”

Sponsors: Reps. French Hill (R-AR) and John Carney (D-DE)

This bill directs the SEC to provide a safe harbor for research reports that cover Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) so that these reports are not considered “offers” under Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933.

H.R. 5019 is substantially similar to H.R. 2356, which passed the Financial Services Committee on May 20, 2015 by a vote of 48-9.