H.R. 2797 would require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to develop an exam and certify people who pass as “accredited investors,” which would allow them to make investments for which they are not currently eligible. Under current law, accredited investors are defined as people or entities with sufficient financial sophistication and resources to sustain the risk of loss, including banks, broker-dealers, and investment companies. Accredited investors may participate in investment opportunities not available to nonaccredited investors, such as purchasing securities that are exempt from registration with the SEC.
Based on the cost of similar provisions, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2797 would cost $1 million in both 2023 and 2024. CBO expects that the SEC would need three employees, at an average annual cost of $300,000 per employee, to establish the examination and amend the current rules on accredited investors. However, because the SEC is authorized to collect fees each year to offset its annual appropriation, CBO expects that the net effect on discretionary spending over the 2023-2028 period would be negligible, assuming appropriation actions consistent with that authority.
If the SEC increases annual fees to offset the costs of implementing provisions of H.R. 2797, it would increase the costs of an existing private-sector mandate on entities required to pay those fees. CBO estimates that the incremental cost of the mandate would be small and would fall well below the annual threshold established in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) for private-sector mandates ($198 million in 2023, adjusted annually for inflation).