Waters Supports Passage of Eight Bipartisan House Bills

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Yesterday, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, supported eight bipartisan bills that were passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Seven out of the eight bills were passed out of the House Committee on Financial Services.

Ranking Member Waters played a leading role in the consideration of each of these overwhelmingly bipartisan bills. In addition to managing the House floor debate, Ranking Member Waters collaborated with the bills’ sponsors to come to an agreement on the best ways to strengthen the economy and improve the lives of America’s families.

The following legislation was considered by the House Committee on Financial Services and supported by Ranking Member Waters on the House floor:

• H.R. 6139, Improving Investment Research for Small and Emerging Issuers Act
  Sponsors: Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
  This bill would require the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct a study on the issues that are affecting the availability of investment research covering small issuers, including emerging growth companies, companies considering an initial public offering, and minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses. It also directs the SEC to report back recommendations to improve the quality and availability of investment research for small issuers. This bill was passed by voice vote.
  
  
• H.R. 4537, International Insurance Standards Act of 2017
  Sponsor: Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI)
  This bill would ensure that international insurance standards or agreements are consistent with our domestic insurance system. It also encourages greater transparency, accountability, and congressional involvement in the development of international insurance standards and covered agreements. This bill was passed by voice vote.
  
  
• H.R. 5749, Options Markets Stability Act
  Sponsor: Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL)
  This bill would direct bank regulators to write rules that more accurately calculate counterparty credit risk exposure for options and other derivatives for purposes of the bank capital rules. This bill passed 385-0.
  
  
• H.R. 5793, Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018
  Sponsors: Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)
  This bill would create a demonstration program to help families with Housing Choice Vouchers move to and stay in areas of opportunity by encouraging public housing authorities (PHAs) to form regional consortia that would work together to reduce barriers to mobility. This bill passed 368-19.
  
  
• H.R. 5877, Main Street Growth Act
  Sponsor: Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN)
  The bill would allow the SEC to approve of a venture exchange that would only trade small company securities provided that the securities are subject to state oversight and additional ongoing disclosures for investors. This bill was passed by voice vote.
  
  
• H.R. 5953, Building Up Independent Lives and Dreams (BUILD) Act
  Sponsors: Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)
  This bill would allow bona fide nonprofits, like Habitat for Humanity, which are eligible for tax-exempt charitable donations and are making zero interest mortgage loans, to choose whether to use the truth in lending (TIL), good faith estimate (GFE), and HUD-1 mortgage disclosure forms or the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) forms when disclosing material information to borrowers. This would extend mortgage disclosure flexibility that currently applies to organizations that make five or fewer mortgage loans annually to these charitable non-profits. This bill was passed by voice vote.
  
  
• H.R. 5970, Modernizing Disclosures for Investors Act
  Sponsor: Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO)
  This bill would require the SEC to conduct a study of the costs and benefits of the current Form 10-Q reporting requirement, including with respect to the benefits of standardized quarterly reporting to the SEC, public companies, investors, market researchers, and other market participants. It also ensures that the SEC studies the potential costs to these entities of alternative formats of quarterly reporting, and the potential impact such alternatives may have on market transparency and efficiency. Finally, the bill directs the SEC to issue a report of its analysis and recommendations for decreasing costs, increasing transparency, and increasing efficiency of quarterly reporting. This bill was passed by voice vote.
  

The following legislation was also supported by Ranking Member Waters on the House floor. It was not considered in Committee.

• H.R. 1861, The Larry Doby Congressional Gold Medal Act
  Sponsors: Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH) and Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)
  This bill will posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Larry Doby in recognition of his athletic and civil rights achievements. Larry Doby became the first African American professional baseball player in the American League in July 1947, three months after Jackie Robinson had become the first African American professional baseball player in the National League. This bill was passed by voice vote.
  
  
  

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