Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act
(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Securities Act of 1933 to add to the definition of accredited investor any natural person whose individual net worth, or joint net worth with his or her spouse, exceeds $1 million (adjusted every five years for inflation).
The person's net worth shall exclude:
the person's primary residence; and
as a liability any indebtedness secured by the primary residence, up to the estimated fair market value of the residence at the time of the sale of securities.
Indebtedness secured by the person's primary residence in excess of the residence's estimated fair market value at the time of the sale of securities, however, shall be included in net worth as a liability.
An accredited investor shall also include any natural person:
whose individual income exceeded $200,000 in each of the two most recent years, or whose joint income with spouse exceeded $300,000 in each of those years, and has a reasonable expectation of reaching the same income level in the current year;
currently licensed or registered as a broker or investment adviser by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) (or an equivalent self-regulatory organization), or a state division responsible for licensing or registration of individuals in connection with securities activities; or
whose demonstrable education or job experience qualifies as professional knowledge of a subject related to a particular investment, and whose education or job experience is verified by the FINRA or an equivalent self-regulatory organization.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on February 1, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 2, 2016: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
David Schweikert (R-AZ) introduced it on April 30, 2015, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Democrat.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 30, 2015, 4151 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3873 days ago, on February 2, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers