Under current law, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may bring legal actions against parties deemed to have violated laws governing financial transactions and financial disclosures either through administrative proceedings heard by the SEC’s in-house administrative law judges or by filing a civil action in a U.S. federal district court. H.R. 3798 would allow parties to administrative proceedings brought by the SEC to require the agency to terminate such proceedings. The SEC then would have the option to bring civil actions in a federal district court against the parties that terminated their administrative proceedings. The bill also would define the standard of proof that would apply in administrative proceedings.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 3798 would decrease revenues by $553 million over the 2017-2026 period; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending.
In addition, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would increase discretionary costs for the SEC by about $4 million per year over the 2017-2021 period for administrative expenses related to the expected increase in the number of civil actions. However, the SEC is authorized to collect fees sufficient to offset its annual appropriation; therefore, CBO estimates that the net effect on discretionary spending would be negligible, assuming appropriation actions consistent with the legislation.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 3798 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
H.R. 3798 contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
If the SEC increases fees to offset the costs of implementing the bill, H.R. 3798 would increase the cost of an existing mandate on private entities required to pay those fees. Based on information from the SEC, CBO estimates that the incremental cost of the mandate would be small and fall well below the annual threshold for private-sector mandates established in UMRA ($154 million in 2016, adjusted annually for inflation).
