.png){kind=logo}
WASHINGTON, D.C. – American Securities Association (ASA) today issued the following statement from President and CEO Chris Iacovella on the introduction of legislation, the Mandatory Materiality Requirement Act, that would codify the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) materiality standard, ensuring reporting requirements focus on protecting investors, maintaining fair and efficient markets and facilitating capital formation.
“The disclosure of material risks has protected investors and our well-functioning capital markets for decades. The SEC’s climate disclosure rule is an ill-advised rejection of this time-tested practice that will needlessly transfer millions of dollars away from shareholders and into the hands of ESG- industrial complex professional class,” said ASA President and CEO Chris Iacovella. “We thank Congressman Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY), and U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) for introducing the Mandatory Materiality Requirement Act, which maintains the materiality standard and refocuses the SEC on its mission to protect investors, maintain efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.”
In June 2023, ASA urged the SEC to drop its climate-disclosure rule and refrain from fundamentally transforming the securities laws in this way without express Congressional authorization.
Introduced by Representatives Bill Huizenga and Andy Barr in the House and Senators Mike Rounds, Thom Tillis (R-NC), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Steve Daines (R-MT), Katie Britt (R-AL), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Boozman (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) in the Senate, the Mandatory Materiality Requirement Act amends both the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by inserting statutory language directly into both acts saying an “issuer is only required to disclose information in response to disclosure obligation adopted by the Commission to the extent the issuer has determined that such information is important with respect to a voting or investment decision regarding such issuer.”
###
About the American Securities Association
American Securities Association, based in Washington, DC, represents the retail and institutional capital markets interests of regional financial services firms who provide Main Street businesses with access to capital and advise hardworking Americans how to create and preserve wealth. ASA’s mission is to promote trust and confidence among investors, facilitate capital formation, and support efficient and competitively balanced capital markets. This mission advances financial independence, stimulates job creation, and increases prosperity. The ASA has a geographically diverse membership of almost one hundred members that spans the Heartland, Southwest, Southeast, Atlantic, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States.