Fair Access to Investment Research Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARNEY. Mr. Speaker, first I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Capuano) for yielding me this time. I would also like to thank all those who have worked hard to improve this bill. I would like to recognize and thank the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) for introducing this legislation. I appreciate his continued willingness to work with me on this important issue and to fine-tune this bill to address concerns that we have heard, particularly from Members on this side of the aisle.

The FAIR Act has a very simple purpose, to provide investors better access to research on exchange-traded funds and other similar products. ETFs are one of the fastest-growing investment vehicles in the market. Net assets in ETFs have grown from $102 billion in 2002 to $1.8 trillion in 2014. The number of ETFs on the market has increased 23 percent over the same period of time, but compared to other asset classes, there is limited research about them available. As interest in ETFs continues to grow, we need to make sure that investors have access to reliable information on these funds and on their underlying investments.

The SEC has been looking at expanding a safe harbor for ETF research for over 15 years, and every time this issue has come up before the SEC, it has received favorable feedback. In fact, during the Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises hearing, there was unanimous agreement among the witnesses--which is not easy to come by in our subcommittee--that the SEC should promulgate a rule providing a safe harbor for ETF research.

Since this legislation was originally introduced, a lot has gone into improving it. We have worked very closely with Ranking Member Waters, the SEC, and FINRA to ensure this legislation does what it is intended to do. We have taken their suggestions to improve numerous provisions of the bill, and I want to thank Mr. Hill again for his flexibility in doing that.

This new version reflects a year of collaboration among Democrats, Republicans, and the regulators. The finished product is a clarified, more effective version of the original bill. I am proud to say I believe that we have arrived at an agreement that works for everyone.

Again, I would like to thank Mr. Hill for his leadership on this issue. I urge all my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this legislation.

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