Media Contact:
Barbara Pruitt, 816-932-1288; bpruitt@kauffman.org, Kauffman Foundation
New legislation aims to roll back regulatory burdens of Sarbanes-Oxley for small businesses to create investment opportunities and boost job growth
(Kansas City, Mo.), Dec. 15, 2011 – U.S. Senators Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) and John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) on Dec. 7, 2011, introduced the Startup Expansion and Investment Act—legislation that, if enacted, would offer new and growing companies relief from the costly regulatory burdens of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002.
Sen. Barrasso said the Act would reduce the burdens faced by American businesses – particularly for new innovative companies who want to expand and create jobs. DeMint said the bill lead to job growth by encouraging companies to seek capital through the markets rather than through government subsidies.
Relief for growing businesses from the strict regulations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act—which was set in place to increase accountability at large corporations, but severely limits access to capital for newer, smaller ones—is one of the key tenets of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's Startup Act of 2011, a set of non-partisan ideas to jump-start the ailing U.S. economy and increase job creation by accelerating the growth of startups and young businesses. U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) just last week introduced bipartisan legislation they named the Startup Act that contains many of the same reform ideas.
