Greenlighting Growth Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3343) to amend the Federal securities laws to specify the periods for which financial statements are required to be provided by an emerging growth company, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 3343

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Greenlighting Growth Act''. SEC. 2. FINANCIAL STATEMENT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR EMERGING GROWTH COMPANIES.

(a) Securities Act of 1933.--Section 7(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77g(a)(2)) is amended--

(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;

(2) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (C); and

(3) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following:

``(B) need not present acquired company financial statements or information otherwise required under section 210.3-05 or section 210.8-04 of title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto, for any period prior to the earliest audited period of the emerging growth company presented in connection with its initial public offering and, thereafter, in no event shall an issuer that was an emerging growth company but is no longer an emerging growth company be required to present financial statements of the issuer (or acquired company financial statements or information otherwise required under section 210.3-05 or section 210.8-04 of title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto) for any period prior to the earliest audited period of the emerging growth company presented in connection with its initial public offering; and''.

(b) Securities Exchange Act of 1934.--Section 12(b)(1)(K) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l(b)(1)(K)) is amended by striking ``firm'' and inserting ``firm, provided that the application of an emerging growth company need not present acquired company financial statements or information otherwise required under section 210.3-05 or section 210.8-04 of title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto, for any period prior to the earliest audited period of the emerging growth company presented in connection with its application and, thereafter, in no event shall an issuer that was an emerging growth company but is no longer an emerging growth company be required to present financial statements of the issuer (or acquired company financial statements or information otherwise required under section 210.3-05 or section 210.8-04 of title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto) for any period prior to the earliest audited period of the emerging growth company presented in connection with any application under this subsection''.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3343, the Greenlighting Growth Act.

Currently, title 1 of the JOBS Act allows emerging growth companies, EGCs, to provide 2 years of audited financial statements rather than 3 years in an initial public offering registration statement. However, there are exceptions that cause confusion.

Mr. Haridopolos' bill provides clarity to title 1 by directing that current and former EGCs do not need to provide financial statements for a period earlier than the 2 years of audited financial statements required during the EGC's initial public offering.

This will increase efficiency and eliminate situations where emerging growth companies were unexpectedly required to provide more extensive disclosures than necessary.

Mr. Speaker, for the reasons that Mr. Haridopolos so eloquently argued, I ask all my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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