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H.R. 1463 (114th): SEC Revolving Door Restriction Act of 2015

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The text of the bill below is as of Mar 19, 2015 (Introduced). The bill was not enacted into law.

I

114th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1463

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 19, 2015

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

A BILL

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide for a one-year employment restriction for ex-employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to work for companies against which the Commission brought enforcement actions that were participated on by such ex-employees, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the SEC Revolving Door Restriction Act of 2015.

2.

One-year employment restriction related to enforcement matters

(a)

In general

The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 4E the following new section:

4F.

One-year employment restriction related to enforcement matters and required ethics opinions

(a)

One-Year employment restriction

Any person who is an employee of the Commission and who, within 1 year after the termination of such employment with the Commission, works for any company or individual against whom the Commission brought an enforcement action, where such action (or a waiver related to such action) was brought within the previous 18 months and was participated on by such person, shall be subject to the same penalties as provided for in section 216 of title 18, United States Code, for offenses described in that section.

(b)

Required ethics opinion

(1)

In general

Any person who is an employee of the Commission and who, within 1 year after the termination of such employment with the Commission, seeks to work for any company or individual against whom the Commission brought an enforcement action (or issued a waiver related to such action) where such action (or waiver) was participated on by such person, shall first receive an ethics opinion from the Commission.

(2)

Ethics opinion

(A)

Content

The ethics opinion described in paragraph (1) shall include a determination of whether such person should be permitted to work for such company or individual.

(B)

Determination requirements

The Commission may not determine, under subparagraph (A), that such person should be permitted to work for such company or individual unless the Commission finds that—

(i)

there would be no appearance of impropriety for such person to work for such company or individual;

(ii)

no material advantage would be gained by such company or individual because such person participated on an enforcement action (or a waiver related to such action); and

(iii)

the integrity of any ongoing enforcement action participated on by such person is not diminished by such person going to work for such company or individual.

(C)

Regulations

The Chairman of the Commission shall provide for regulations for the issuance of ethics opinions under this subsection.

(3)

Penalties

A person shall be subject to the same penalties as provided for in section 216 of title 18, United States Code, for offenses described in that section, if such person—

(A)

receives an ethics opinion under paragraph (1), where such ethics opinion states that such person should not be permitted to work for a particular company or individual; and

(B)

within 1 year after the termination of such person’s employment with the Commission, the person works for such company or individual.

(c)

Exception for non-Professional staff

The provisions of this section shall not apply to a person who is a non-professional staff employee of the Commission.

(d)

Definitions

For purposes of this section:

(1)

Enforcement action

The term enforcement action means such court actions, administrative proceedings, Commission opinions, and other actions, as the Commission may determine appropriate.

(2)

Participated on

With respect to an enforcement action (or a waiver related to such action) and a person, the term participated on means the person either—

(A)

participated personally in the enforcement action (or waiver related to such action); or

(B)

knew or reasonably should have known that the enforcement action (or waiver related to such action) was under his or her official responsibility as an employee of the Commission.

(3)

Work for

The term work for means—

(A)

employed by;

(B)

volunteers for;

(C)

lobbies on behalf of; or

(D)

consults for.

.

(b)

Report

One year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission shall submit a report to the Congress analyzing the impact that the provisions of this Act have had on recruitment and retention of employees by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

(c)

Effective date

The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.