Crowdfunding Now!

The committees assigned to this bill sent it to the House or Senate as a whole for consideration on May 22, 2014.

The election results from Eric Cantor's district are welcome news for crowdfunding advocates. Mr. Cantor's defeat affects crowdfunding in several ways. First, the race is on for a new chairman of the House Financial Services committee. This is critical, given the delay in the implementation of the JOBS Act. One of the candidates for the Chair is Patrick McHenry, the author of the JOBS Act. Secondly, Mr. McHenry has another bill in the House, HR 4565 , that will raise the crowdfunding limit from $1 million to $5 million. The election makes it more likely that this bill will get out of committee, to the full House and onto the Senate. Finally, Mr. Cantor was, according to Politico, a key Wall Street ally, and we know Wall Street is not happy with the potential crowdfunding has to loosen their stranglehold on start-up financing. "Many lobbyists on K Street whose clients include major financial institutions consider Cantor a go to member in leadership on policy debate...

According to Financial Services Committee Staff, Congressman Patrick McHenry has offered to "strike Title III of  the JOBS Act, which was added by the Senate, and replace it with legislation that closely  mirrors the House-passed crowdfunding title and makes additional improvements." The proposed legislation, "entitled  the ' Startup Capital Modernization Act of 2014 ' ,  (H. R. 4565)  is primarily directed towards fixing some of the potentially fatal defects and ambiguities embedded in the original JOBS Act bill...here are some of the highlights: Raises crowdfunding limits from $1 million to up to $5 million. Allows self –certified financials for raises under $500,000 – and independently reviewed financials statements for raises between $500,000 and $3 million – leaving the more onerous audited financials for raises above $3 million. Eliminates the requirement that the SEC promulgate rules requiring detailed, registration statement-like non-financial di...