JOBS Act Passes; President to Sign

In a remarkable show of bi-partisanship, the House passed the Senate-amended version of H.R. 3606 “Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act” by the wide margin of 380-41.  This legislation included six existing bills, four of which had passed the House already, and which have been supported by CompTIA as a means of infusing capital into small businesses.  The Senate amended the initial House version by adopting an amendment offered by Sen. Merkley, which was passed by a vote of 64-36.  This amendment added a number of additional investor protections and also increased the limitation for many individual investors.

CompTIA certainly supports the JOBS Act, and we will work with our members to be sure they are apprised of the additional avenues of capital this legislation enables.  After enactment by the President, the next step (which will be a slow process) is for the SEC to initiate a regulation project.  While the law provides the streamlined structure for crowdfunding, regulations must be issued for guidance.  This is a tedious process; it could be a year or more before actual crowdfunding efforts can be initiated.  Even so, we are one step closer to freeing up additional equity capital that will enable many small businesses to grow, prosper and create new jobs.