On the recordFebruary 1, 2017
If you opened up your copy of Dodd-Frank, this big thick book with 2,300 pages of microscopic print, and went all the way back to title XV, way back in the back, under ``Miscellaneous Provisions,'' you would find excessive complexity and a regulation that only breeds corruption, not the other way around. In these provisions lies section 1504, which directs the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, to adopt a rule requiring resource extraction issuers to report payments to the U.S. and foreign governments for the commercial development of certain natural resources and make them available to the public. Though we all fully support transparency and accountability, I believe that section 1504 fails to protect investors while simultaneously decreasing the productivity of capital markets and competition in the marketplace. This rule has stifled job growth and expansion. The SEC estimated that the cost of the new rule would be somewhere between $239 million and $700 million in initial startup compliance costs alone. After the first year, the SEC projects it would be an annual ongoing cost of compliance ranging from $100 million to $591 million. Rather than this rule, companies could reinvest these dollars into creating opportunities for local communities, which will result in the creation of more good-paying jobs for Americans.…





