Hedge Fund Study Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Hedge Fund Study Act - Instructs the President's Working Group on Financial Markets to study and report to certain congressional committees on the hedge fund industry.
(Sec. 2) Requires the study to analyze: (1) the changing nature of hedge funds and what characteristics define a hedge fund; (2) the growth of hedge funds within financial markets; (3) the growth of pension funds investing in hedge funds; (4) whether hedge fund investors are able to protect themselves adequately from the risk associated with their investments; (5) whether hedge fund leverage is effectively constrained; (6) the potential risks hedge funds pose to financial markets or to investors; (7) various international approaches to hedge fund regulation; and (8) benefits of the hedge fund industry to the economy and the markets.
Requires the recommendations to include: (1) any proposed legislation relating to appropriate disclosure requirements for hedge funds; (2) the type of information hedge funds should disclose to regulators and to the public; (3) any efforts the hedge fund industry or regulators of financial institutions should undertake to improve practices or provide examples of successful industry initiatives; and (4) any oversight responsibilities that members of the President's Working Group should have over the hedge fund industry, and the degree and scope of such oversight.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on September 27, 2006. 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 November 13, 2006: 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 109th Congress (2005-06), 482 of the 10,701 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.5 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?
MICHAEL CASTLE (R-DE) introduced it on September 14, 2006, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 2 Republicans.
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 September 14, 2006, 7302 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 7242 days ago, on November 13, 2006.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 109th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2007 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