Yesterday, the House passed the Helping Angels Lead Our Startups (HALOS) Act by a large bipartisan margin of 344 to 73. But the HALOS Act is far from angelic.
The HALOS Act weakens the investor protections in the 2012 JOBS Act. The JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) had itself created more lax regulation of startups in order to enable them to use general solicitation or general advertising for securities offerings, as long as they limited sales to “accredited investors” (under SEC rules, individuals who meet certain minimum income/net worth levels). Startups would have to take steps to verify such accredited status. The HALOS Act effectively eliminates this verification requirement if the solicitation or advertising connected to “crowdfunding” takes the form of a “sales pitch” sponsored by angel investor groups, non-profits, trade associations, universities, units of government, and other specified entities.
The House passed an identical version of the bill back in 2015. Americans for Financial Reform urged lawmakers to vote against it, explaining that it “is overly broad and would likely lead to losses for investors who are not prepared to take the significant risks associated with purchases of unregistered securities.” Public Citizen likewise opposed the bill, explaining that it “could allow hucksters to promote high risk investment products at an almost unlimited number of venues,” including churches and schools.
Nonetheless, every Republican in attendance along with 108 Democrats voted for it.
Here are the 73 Democrats who rightly voted against it:
Nanette Barragán (CA-44)
Karen Bass (CA-37)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Bob Brady (PA-01)
Mike Capuano (MA-07)
Andre Carson (IN-07)
Matt Cartwright (PA-17)
David Cicilline (RI-01)
Katherine Clark (MA-05)
Lacy Clay (MO-01)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
James Clyburn (SC-06)
Steve Cohen (TN-09)
John Conyers (MI-13)
Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)
Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11)
Lloyd Doggett (TX-35)
Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Adriano Espaillat (NY-13)
Lois Frankel (FL-22)
Marcia Fudge (OH-11)
Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02)
Ruben Gallego (AZ-07)
Al Green (TX-09)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Raul Grijalva (AZ-03)
Luis Gutiérrez (IL-04)
Colleen Hanabusa (HI-01)
Alcee Hastings (FL-20)
Jared Huffman (CA-02)
Pramila Jayapal (WA-07)
Eddie Johnson (TX-30)
Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
Rho Khanna (CA-17)
Ruben Kihuen (NV-04)
Dan Kildee (MI-05)
Jim Langevin (RI-02)
John Lewis (GA-05)
Alan Lowenthal (CA-47)
Nita Lowey (NY-17)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Jim McGovern (MA-02)
Gwen Moore (WI-04)
Jerry Nadler (NY-10)
Grace Napolitano (CA-32)
Richard Neal (MA-01)
Frank Pallone (NJ-06)
Bill Pascrell (NJ-09)
Donald Payne (NJ-10)
Nancy Pelosi (CA-12)
Mark Pocan (WI-02)
Jamie Raskin (MD-08)
Cedric Richmond (LA-02)
Lucille Royball-Allard
Linda Sanchez (CA-38)
John Sarbanes (MD-03)
Bobby Scott (VA-03)
Jose Serrano (NY-15)
Brad Sherman (CA-30)
Albio Sires (NJ-08)
Louise Slaughter (NY-25)
Adam Smith (WA-09)
Eric Swalwell (CA-15)
Bennie Thompson (MS-02)
Paul Tonko (NY-20)
Nydia Velazquez (NY-07)
Pete Visclosky (IN-01)
Maxine Waters (CA-43)
Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12)
Pete Welch (VT-AL)
Frederica Wilson (FL-24)
In 2015, the Democratic caucus was less supportive, splitting 88 in favor and 89 against.
Several Democrats who had voted against it in 2015 were not in attendance, such as Barbara Lee (CA-13) and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), and a little more than a dozen Democrats flipped their votes in favor. Some of the change stemmed from retirements as well.
The House took recorded votes on two amendments.
Nydia Velazquez offered an amendment to require event sponsors to provide attendees with a written disclosure outlining the nature of the event and the risks of investing in the securities for sale.
The amendment failed 167 to 249.
One Republican—Walter Jones (NC-03)—joined Democrats in voting for it.
15 Democrats joined Republicans in voting against it:
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Tony Cardenas (CA-29)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Seth Moulton (MA-06)
Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Kathleen Rice (NY-04)
Jackie Rosen (NV-03)
Brad Schneider (IL-10)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Eric Swalwell (CA-15)
Lacy Clay offered an amendment to limit the types of fees “demo day” sponsors can collect and to limit the attendance at “demo days” to only individuals with financial sophistication, and requires an issuer to be a real business.
It failed 163 to 253.
17 Democrats joined Republicans in voting against it:
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Anna Eshoo (CA-18)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Al Lawson (FL-05)
Seth Moulton (MA-06)
Stephanie Murphy (FL-07)
Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01)
Jimmy Panetta (CA-20)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Kathleen Rice (NY-04)
Brad Schneider (IL-10)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Eric Swalwell (CA-15)