The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act, 380-41 has now been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Next stop is the President’s desk. Since this is a bill he has publicly supported, President Obama probably already has his pen out.
Designed to lift regulatory burdens on small companies and encourage more initial public offerings. The bill received solid bi-partisan support and is also embraced many members of the business and capital communities.
It is expected to boost capital investments both provate and public and to also suport an increase in IPOs. After all, capital fuels businesses and growing businesses and start ups are the number one jobs engine.
The JOBS Act is actually a package of 6 separate laws:
- The Private Company Flexibility and Growth Act
- The Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act
- The Small Company Capital Formation Act
- The Access to Capital for Job Creators Act
- The Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act
- The Capital Expansion Act
You can read the bill summaries from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor by clicking here.
In a statement following the vote, Cantor hailed its passage: “Both parties in Congress, the President and entrepreneurs like Steve Case came together on this bill that will increase capital formation and pave the way for more small-scale businesses to go public and create jobs. The bipartisan JOBS Act represents an increasingly rare legislative victory in Washington where both sides seized the opportunity to work together, improved the bill and passed it with strong bipartisan support.” (Source: http://majorityleader.gov/Blog/)
Ernst and Young recently published a great summary of the JOBS Act which is posted below.
Many thanks to Phil Howard of Ernst and Young for sharing this insight with our AZBio Community.