Senator Shelby Calls for Bi-Partisan Senate Legislation on Capital Formation

In a letter to Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Johnson (D-SD), Senator Richard Shelby (R-ALA), the Committee’s Ranking Member, asked that a bi-partisan JOBS Act be crafted that is modeled on the JOBS Act capital formation legislation, HR 3606, that passed the House by a vote of 390 to 23. Noting reports that Chairman Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will shortly file a capital formation bill prepared without any input from Senate Republicans, Senator Shelby said that this course of action would be regrettable. Senator Shelby would prefer to work with Chairman Johnson to draft a bi-partisan bill in the Banking Committee before any legislation is formally introduced in the Senate. Nevertheless, Senator Shelby stands ready to work with Chairman Johnson and Leader Reid to craft bi-partisan capital legislation that closely resembles HR 3606. He encouraged the Senate leaders to consider for the Senate version of the JOBS Act the capital formation legislation introduced by Senator Scott Brown on crowdfunding (R-MA) (S 1791), Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson on raising the 500-shareholder threshold (R-TX) (S 556), Senator John Thune (R-SD) on easing the Regulation D general solicitation ban (S 1831), and Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) on creating an IPO on ramp (R-PA) (S 1544, S 1824, and S 1933).