HALOS Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
Helping Angels Lead Our Startups Act or the HALOS Act
(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revise Regulation D, which exempts certain offerings from SEC registration requirements but prohibits general solicitation or general advertising with respect to such offerings. Specifically, this prohibition shall not apply to events with specified kinds of sponsors -- including "angel investor groups" unconnected to broker-dealers or investment advisers -- where presentations or communications are made by or on behalf of an issuer, but:
the advertising does not refer to any specific offering of securities by the issuer;
the sponsor does not provide investment recommendation or advice to attendees, engage in investment negotiations with attendees, charge certain fees, or receive certain compensation; and
no specific information regarding a securities offering is communicated beyond the type and amount of securities being offered, the amount of securities already subscribed for, and the intended use of proceeds from the offering.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House without amendment" stage on January 10, 2017. 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 January 11, 2017: 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 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 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?
STEVE CHABOT (R-OH) introduced it on January 3, 2017, and 15 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 5 Democrats, 10 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 January 3, 2017, 3537 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3529 days ago, on January 11, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 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