Research Paper Phase 1– Policy Overview
Josh McGowan
Baker College

On April 25,2012 President Obama sign into exsistance a bi-partisan bill, the JOBS Act, which is short for Jumpstart Our Business Act. This law was “was designed to make it easier for small companies to raise equity capital.” (Unknown, 2013), and as a result creating jobs. This law was intended to encourage funding of United States small businesses by easing various securities. This law removes anything preventing businesses from obtaining funding as well as giving small businesses access to a large amount of investors, that being the American citizens. “Though the JOBS Act was packaged as a plan to streamline rules to help small companies crank out jobs, even its cheerleaders have come up with scant evidence the law will boost employment much, if at all.” (Antilla, 2012, par. 3)
The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: put more people back to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans. And it would do so without adding a dime to the deficit. It will cut the taxes in half that are paid by businesses on their first $5 million in payroll, targeting the benefit to ninety-eight percent of firms that have payroll below this threshold. This bill will also eliminate payroll taxes for firms that increase their payroll by adding new workers or increasing the wages of their current workers. The hope is to begin employing the unemployed while rebuilding America.
However with the delays at the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), this law is failing to actually be written into law, which the SEC is responsible for, in the meantime companies are still evading executive-pay rules. Since the passing of the Dodd-Frank act in 2010, the SEC has been overwhelmed with their rule writing duties and says that they are working hard to write the rules but is also making sure they write those rules correctly. Meaning that if they work too fast there is a chance of writing the rules wrong. “The delays to the act also reflect a debate within the SEC about the best way to structure securities markets and regulation.” (Unknown, 2013)
For most small businesses on the scale of the mom-and-pop shop, the bill’s crowdfunding measure is the main point of interest. The Crowdfunding Act included in the JOBS Act package permits companies to raise up to a total of