SEC Crowdfunding Rulemaking Under the Jobs Act -- An Opportunity Lost?

On April 5, 2012, President Barack Obama signed into law the JOBS Act of 2012, intended to facilitate capital formation for small business, widely viewed as the principal engine of job creation in the United States. One of the JOBS Act’s more controversial provisions, Title III, created an exemption from registration of the offer and sale of "crowdfunded" securities under the Securities Act of 1933, allowing the sale of securities to an unlimited number of unaccredited investors without registration, on an Internet-based platform, through intermediaries which are either registered broker-dealers or SEC licensed "funding portals." Title III provided for a number of built-in investor protections, including limitations on the amount invested, limitation on the amount an issuer may raise in a 12 month period ($1 million), detailed financial and non-financial disclosure in connection with the offering, and ongoing annual issuer disclosure. Congress left much of the details of Title III in the hands of the SEC, to be fleshed out in the rulemaking process.More than 18 months later, on October 23, 2013, in a 585 page release, the Commission approved the issuance of proposed Title III rules for public comment, with the comment period expiring in February 2014.The following commentary addresses certain choices and challenges of the SEC in the ongoing Title III rulemaking process, evaluating a number of key areas where proposed rulemaking has in many instances exacerbated the inherent cost and complexity inherent in the Title III structure created by Congress, and suggesting alternative approaches in the rulemaking process as the SEC undertakes to finalize Title III rules.