Buried inside the 212-page Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT Act) is Section 504 — a single amendment to securities laws that could be a potent legislative check on the overzealous use of regulatory power by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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What’s so significant about Section 504? While it’s not a complete reform — time would tell how effective it is — it just might provide a much-needed modernization of the regulatory agency’s 85-year-old mission.
Instead of another long-winded rule or multipronged provision with more nested definitions than a Wikipedia rabbit hole, Section 504 simply adds the word “innovation” to key sections of existing SEC regulations that govern how the commission conducts its business. Such a small change might have a monumental impact, requiring the SEC to consider whether its actions promote or harm innovation.
Source: Congress may modernize the SEC’s mission. Will it work? | The Hill
