The USA PATRIOT Act was an Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush.
The Code of Laws of the United States of America is the official compilation and codification of the general and permanent federal statutes of the United States. It contains 53 titles. The main edition is published every six years by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives, and cumulative supplements are published annually. The official version of those laws not codified in the United States Code can be found in United States Statutes at Large.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a large independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market manipulation.
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act" and "Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act" and more commonly called Sarbanes–Oxley or SOX, is a United States federal law that set new or expanded requirements for all U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms. A number of provisions of the Act also apply to privately held companies, such as the willful destruction of evidence to impede a federal investigation.
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a federal republic in North America, composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories and several island possessions. The federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress, the president and the federal courts, respectively. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of Congress, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court.
Charles Christopher Cox is an American business leader and former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a 17-year Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, and member of the White House staff in the Reagan Administration. Prior to his Washington service he was a practicing attorney, teacher, and entrepreneur. Following his retirement from government in 2009, he returned to law practice and currently serves as a director, trustee, and advisor to several for-profit and nonprofit organizations.
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the codification of the general and permanent regulations published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the United States. The CFR is divided into 50 titles that represent broad areas subject to federal regulation.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, is a federal freedom of information law that requires the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government upon request. The act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure procedures, and defines nine exemptions to the statute. The act was intended to make U.S. government agencies' functions more transparent so that the American public could more easily identify problems in government functioning and put pressure on Congress, agency officials, and the president to address them.
The Bayh–Dole Act or Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act is United States legislation dealing with inventions arising from federal government-funded research. Sponsored by two senators, Birch Bayh of Indiana and Bob Dole of Kansas, the Act was adopted in 1980, is codified at 94 Stat. 3015, and in 35 U.S.C. § 200–212, and is implemented by 37 C.F.R. 401 for federal funding agreements with contractors and 37 C.F.R 404 for licensing of inventions owned by the federal government.
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) is perhaps the most comprehensive effort by the U.S. federal government to balance the social goals of federal regulations with the needs and capabilities of small businesses and other small entities in American society.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is a United States government agency that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and strengthen the nation's economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses and by assisting in the economic recovery of communities after disasters". The agency's activities have been summarized as the "3 Cs" of capital, contracts and counseling.
The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1964 by the Administrative Conference Act. The Conference's purpose is to "promote improvements in the efficiency, adequacy, and fairness of the procedures by which federal agencies conduct regulatory programs, administer grants and benefits, and perform related governmental functions."
The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a United States federal law that was enacted on July 21, 2010. The law overhauled financial regulation in the aftermath of the Great Recession, and it made changes affecting all federal financial regulatory agencies and almost every part of the nation's financial services industry.
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act, is a law intended to encourage funding of small businesses in the United States by easing many of the country's securities regulations. It passed with bipartisan support, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 5, 2012. Title III, also known as the CROWDFUND Act, has drawn the most public attention because it creates a way for companies to use crowdfunding to issue securities, something that was not previously permitted. Title II went into effect on September 23, 2013. On October 30, 2015, the SEC adopted final rules allowing Title III equity crowdfunding. These rules went into effect on May 16, 2016. Other titles of the Act had previously become effective in the years since the Act's passage.
The crowdfunding exemption movement in the U.S. is the effort to exempt relatively small investment offerings, sold to the general public in small blocks, from the registration and compliance requirements demanded of large public companies. Inspired by the growth of non-investment crowdfunding, advocates see such exemptions as a way to spur innovation, economic activity, and small-business job creation, but opponents see such changes as invitations to fraud that will target unsophisticated investors. The movement has seen success with the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, which went into effect in 2016, and a growing number of state-level exemptions.
The SEC Regulatory Accountability Act is a bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives in the 113th United States Congress. The bill would amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to give new directions to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) governing its regulation creation and amendment process. The SEC would be required to assess the significance of the problem they are considering addressing, determine whether the estimated costs would outweigh the estimated benefits, and identify alternatives to their proposed regulation. The bill is intended to help protect the financial sector from excessive, burdensome regulations created by the SEC. The bill would do this by ordering the SEC to conduct a cost-benefit study before issuing any new rules to ensure that the expected benefits of the new rule would outweigh the expected costs of imposing it.
The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2014 is an appropriations bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. The bill would appropriate money to various government agencies related to the United States Department of Homeland Security. This funding would be used during fiscal year 2014, which ends September 30, 2014. The United States House Committee on Appropriations recommended "$38,993,000,000 in discretionary funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for fiscal year 2014, $34,885,000, or .09 percent, below the amount requested and $613,205,000, or 1.55 percent, below fiscal year 2013 enacted levels."
The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014 is an appropriations bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. The bill would appropriate money to various government agencies related to the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. This funding would be used during fiscal year 2014, which ends September 30, 2014. According to its committee report, "the purpose of the bill is to support our military and their families and provide the benefits and medical care that our veterans have earned for their service." The report also indicated that the Committee had made its decisions with the national debt and budget deficit in mind.
The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015 is an appropriations bill that would provide funding for the United States Department of Transportation and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for fiscal year 2015.
The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015 is an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2015 that would provide funding for the United States Department of Agriculture and related agencies. The bill would appropriate $20.9 billion.
