BIO Applauds Representatives for Introducing the Bipartisan SEC Small Business Advocate Act

Bill would enhance the voice of emerging companies at the SEC

Washington, D.C. (October 26, 2015) – Today, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) applauds Reps. John Carney (D-DE), Sean Duffy (R-WI), Mike Quigley (D-IL), and Ander Crenshaw (R-FL) for introducing H.R. 3784, the SEC Small Business Advocate Act, which would ensure that growing companies have a strong, independent voice at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

This important legislation would establish an Office of the Small Business Advocate at the SEC in order to facilitate small business capital formation and ensure that the SEC takes into account the impact of regulatory burdens on growing companies as it considers new compliance requirements. The Office also would organize and support the SEC Advisory Committee on Small & Emerging Companies and the SEC Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation. These two groups convene private sector stakeholders to formulate policy recommendations that would support small business growth. BIO has long supported the work of these groups, both of which endorsed the policy ideas that eventually became the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.  To date, the JOBS Act has stimulated more than 170 biotech IPOs. The proposed Office of the Small Business Advocate will further incorporate small business innovators into the policymaking process at the SEC and enable the SEC to keep emerging company policy concerns at the forefront of its regulatory decisions.

The following statement may be attributed to BIO President & CEO Jim Greenwood:

“BIO commends Reps. Carney, Duffy, Quigley, and Crenshaw for introducing the SEC Small Business Advocate Act. Policymaking processes at the SEC that prioritize the needs of smaller companies can support the growth of emerging biotechs on the public market by incentivizing vital capital formation and reducing regulatory burdens that divert funds from science to one-size-fits-all compliance requirements. The proposed Office of the Small Business Advocate would give emerging biotech companies an important voice at the SEC.

“Capital formation and resource efficiency are of paramount importance to growing biotech companies, which depend on investor capital to fund their decades-long, billion-dollar development pathway. Ensuring that the SEC enacts policies that support the growth of these innovative job creators will build on the success of the JOBS Act and further enhance the role that public capital plays in the search for groundbreaking discoveries and lifesaving medicines.

“BIO believes that creating an Office of the Small Business Advocate at the SEC will give growing companies an enhanced voice in the Commission's rulemaking process, ensuring that SEC policies and regulations support small business capital formation, incentivize regulatory efficiency, and drive American innovation.”

For more information on the biotechnology industry and emerging biotech companies in particular, please visit www.bio.org.

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