For Immediate Release
April 5, 2012
TechAmerica Heralds JOBS Act Becoming Law
Washington, DC – TechAmerica’s Senior Vice President of Federal Government Relations, Kevin Richards welcomed the signing of the Jumpstart Our Small Businesses (JOBS) Act by the President today. Mr. Richards was present for the signing.
“It’s a real honor to represent TechAmerica and the technology industry at the signing of this landmark law that clears impediments to spurring capital investment and injects job creation opportunities for the U.S. innovation economy. No single industry benefits more than the nation’s technology industry from the JOBS Act, which will incentivize innovation and encourage entrepreneurs to take their bold ideas from the basement to the board room.
This legislation is the best example of how Washington must work – putting aside political considerations while working in a bipartisan effort for the best interest of our country and U.S. global competitiveness. We commend the President, Leaders Reid and Cantor and the other members of the House and Senate for their skillful efforts in ensuring that the JOBS Act passed the Congress to become law.
This new law will help ensure that entrepreneurs get faster access to capital to grow their companies and create jobs. It is this kind of leadership that is going to ensure that our country experiences a true recovery, led by the vibrant U.S. technology industry.”
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Key Elements of the JOBS Act
The JOBS Act includes all three of the capital formation priorities that the President first raised in his September 2011 address to a Joint Session of Congress, and outlined in more detail in his Startup America Legislative Agenda to Congress in January 2012: allowing “crowdfunding,” expanding “mini-public offerings,” and creating an “IPO on-ramp” consistent with investor protections.
The JOBS Act is a product of bipartisan cooperation, with the President and Congress working together to promote American entrepreneurship and innovation while maintaining important protections for American investors. It will help growing businesses access financing while maintaining investor protections, in several ways:
- Allowing Small Businesses to Harness “Crowdfunding”: The Internet already has been a tool for fundraising from many thousands of donors. Subject to rulemaking by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), startups and small businesses will be allowed to raise up to $1 million annually from many small-dollar investors through web-based platforms, democratizing access to capital. Because the Senate acted on a bipartisan amendment, the bill includes key investor protections the President called for, including a requirement that all crowdfunding must occur through platforms that are registered with a self-regulatory organization and regulated by the SEC. In addition, investors’ annual combined investments in crowdfunded securities will be limited based on an income and net worth test.
- Expanding “Mini Public Offerings”: Prior to this legislation, the existing “Regulation A” exemption from certain SEC requirements for small businesses seeking to raise less than $5 million in a public offering was seldom used. The JOBS Act will raise this threshold to $50 million, streamlining the process for smaller innovative companies to raise capital consistent with investor protections.
- Creating an “IPO On-Ramp”: The JOBS Act makes it easier for young, high-growth firms to go public by providing an incubator period for a new class of “Emerging Growth Companies.” During this period, qualifying companies will have time to reach compliance with certain public company disclosure and auditing requirements after their initial public offering (IPO). Any firm that goes public already has up to two years after its IPO to comply with certain Sarbanes-Oxley auditing requirements. The JOBS Act extends that period to a maximum of five years, or less if during the on-ramp period a company achieves $1 billion in gross revenue, $700 million in public float, or issues more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt in the previous three years.
Additionally, the JOBS Act changes some existing limitations on how companies can solicit private investments from “accredited investors,” tasks the SEC with ensuring that companies take reasonable steps to verify that such investors are accredited, and gives companies more flexibility to plan their access to public markets and incentivize employees.
Additional Initiatives Announced Today to Promote Capital Access and Investor Protection
- Monitoring of JOBS Act Implementation: The President is directing the Treasury Department, Small Business Administration and Department of Justice to closely monitor the implementation of this legislation to ensure that it is achieving its goals of enhancing access capital while maintaining appropriate investor protections. These agencies, consulting closely with the SEC and key non-governmental stakeholders, will report their findings to the President on a biannual basis, and will include recommendations for additional necessary steps to ensure that the legislation achieves its goals.
- Crowdfunding Platforms Commit to Investor Protections: In a letter to President Obama, a consortium of crowdfunding companies are committing to work with the SEC to develop appropriate regulation of the industry, as required by the JOBS Act. Members of this leadership group are committing to establish core investor protections, including an enforceable code of conduct for crowdfunding platforms, standardized methods to ensure that investors do not exceed statutory limits, thorough vetting of companies raising funds through crowdfunding, and an industry standard “Investors’ Bill of Rights.”
About TechAmerica
TechAmerica is the leading voice for the U.S. technology industry – the driving force behind productivity growth and jobs creation in the United States and the foundation of the global innovation economy. Representing approximately 1,200 member companies of all sizes from the public and commercial sectors of the economy, it is the industry’s largest advocacy organization and is dedicated to helping members’ top and bottom lines. TechAmerica is also the technology industry's only grassroots-to-global advocacy network, with offices in state capitals around the United States, Washington, D.C., Europe (Brussels) and Asia (Beijing). Learn more about TechAmerica at www.techamerica.org.
