The U.S. House voted to pass H.R. 3060, known as the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, clearing the legislation to head to President Obama for signature into law. The bill was ultimately passed with strong bipartisan support in both the U.S. House and Senate. As previously discussed in a DevelopOhio post (see our March 30, 2012, blog post), the JOBS bill addresses capital access issues for small business and aims to decrease regulatory burden and promote innovation for new and growing companies throughout the U.S.
Specifically, the legislation offers that crowdfunding, a method for small businesses to raise funding through the Internet and various social media outlets, allows up to $1 million to be collected without having to file with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Further, the number of public shareholders needed to trigger registration with the SEC was raised from 750 to 2,000, enabling small companies to reach out to a larger group of individuals for investment capital. For more on the JOBS bill, read the Reuters story here.
