Ricketts Introduces the Business Opportunity Protection Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) led a introduced the Business Opportunity Protection (BOP) Act. This legislation would repealunnecessary and unused Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) discretionary authorities granted by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Congressman Andy Barr (KY-06), is the lead of BOP’s companion legislation in the House.

“15 years is more than enough time for the SEC to evaluate the necessity of unused authorities,” said Ricketts. “But just because they haven’t been used does not mean they should remain on the books.”

Senator Ricketts emphasized the danger of activist regulators weaponizing unused Dodd-Frankdiscretionary authorities to advance aggressive and sweeping ideological mandates on investors and businesses. Ricketts also highlighted the cost savings for businesses that would no longer need to plan for uncertain compliance requirements.

“Unused discretionary authorities at the SEC create a regulatory overhang—businesses are forced to plan for rules and compliance burdens that could appear overnight,” continued Ricketts. “It’s time to restore balance, accountability, and certainty to the SEC and take unused discretionary authorities off the books for good.”

“Dodd-Frank slowed our recovery from the 2008 recession and will go down as one of the biggest power grabs by federal regulators in history,” said Congressman Andy Barr, Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions. “More than 15 years later, I’m teaming up with Senator Ricketts to prevent the SEC from imposing any more regulations under Dodd-Frank that haven’t already been implemented.”

Bill text can be found here.