To amend the Securities Act of 1933 to codify certain qualifications of individuals as accredited investors for purposes of the securities laws.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act amends the Securities Act's accredited-investor definition. It preserves the existing wealth pathway for natural persons with more than $1 million in individual or joint net worth, excluding primary residence treatment and related mortgage rules. It preserves the income pathway for people with more than $200,000 in individual income or more than $300,000 in joint income in each of the two most recent years and a reasonable expectation of the same income level. It requires the SEC to adjust the relevant net-worth and income thresholds for inflation every five years to the nearest $10,000 using the CPI-U. It adds a new pathway for natural persons currently licensed or registered as brokers or investment advisers by the SEC, a self-regulatory organization, a state, D.C., or a U.S. territory, if they are in good standing. It also adds a pathway for people whom the SEC determines by regulation to have demonstrable education or job experience related to a particular investment, verified by a self-regulatory organization. The SEC must revise Regulation D within 180 days.
Who Benefits and How
Licensed brokers, registered investment advisers, state-registered securities professionals, FINRA-licensed professionals, people with verified investment education, people with verified investment job experience, private-fund sponsors, private-company issuers, venture capital firms, and crowdfunding platforms benefit because the bill lets expertise-based investors qualify for private offerings without relying solely on wealth or income tests, while preserving the existing wealth categories.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Regulation D staff, self-regulatory organizations verifying expertise, state securities regulators, retail investors below wealth thresholds, retail investors without securities credentials, investor-protection advocates, and private-offering compliance teams bear burdens because the bill requires rule revisions within 180 days, recurring inflation adjustments, expertise-verification systems, and monitoring of expanded access to private securities offerings.
Key Provisions
- Amends the Securities Act accredited-investor definition while preserving net-worth and income pathways.
- Requires five-year inflation adjustments to net-worth and income thresholds.
- Adds licensed or registered brokers and investment advisers in good standing as accredited investors.
- Adds SEC-defined people with demonstrable investment-related education or job experience verified by a self-regulatory organization.
- Requires the SEC to revise Regulation D within 180 days to conform to the new statutory definition.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Expands the Securities Act accredited-investor definition to include licensed brokers and investment advisers in good standing and SEC-defined individuals with verified investment-related education or job experience, while preserving wealth and income pathways and requiring five-year inflation adjustments and Regulation D conforming changes.
Key Policy Areas
Financial Services, Securities, Private Markets
Primary Purpose
Expands the Securities Act accredited-investor definition to include licensed brokers and investment advisers in good standing and SEC-defined individuals with verified investment-related education or job experience, while preserving wealth and income pathways and requiring five-year inflation adjustments and Regulation D conforming changes.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Licensed brokers
- Registered investment advisers
- State-registered securities professionals
- FINRA-licensed professionals
- People with verified investment education
- People with verified investment job experience
- Private-fund sponsors
- Private-company issuers
- Venture capital firms
- Crowdfunding platforms
Identified Costs
- Securities and Exchange Commission
- SEC Regulation D staff
- Self-regulatory organizations verifying expertise
- State securities regulators
- Retail investors below wealth thresholds
- Retail investors without securities credentials
- Investor-protection advocates
- Private-offering compliance teams
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseReceived; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Additional sponsors: Mr. Davidson and Mr. Sessions
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …
Mr. Hill of Arkansas (for himself and Mr. Vargas) introduced …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Licensed brokers, Private-company issuers, Registered investment advisers
Positive-direction: Private-company issuers
Negative-direction: Self-regulatory organizations verifying expertise
People with verified investment education, People with verified investment job experience, Retail investors below wealth thresholds
On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended
Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "sec"
- → Securities and Exchange Commission
- "sro"
- → self-regulatory organization
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology