| Sponsor | Leahy (Vermont) |
| Date | September 23, 2010 (111th Congress, 2nd Session) |
| Staff Contact | Jon Hiler |
S. 3717 is expected to be considered on the floor of the House on Thursday, September 23, 2010, under a motion to suspend the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority vote for passage. The legislation was introduced on August 5, 2010 by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The bill was passed in the Senate by unanimous consent on September 21, 2010.
S. 3717 would amend certain statutes of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 as amended by provisions of the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection and Wall Street Reform Act (P.L. 111-203) to apply Freedom of Information Act disclosure requirements.
The Dodd-Frank Act shields the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from certain Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosures, which allows the commission to withhold information it gathers for “surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities.”
This bill would also clarify that entities, including hedge funds, regulated by the SEC will be considered “financial institutions” for the purposes of applying an existing FOIA exemption that allows regulators to withhold sensitive information about financial institutions.