Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe and Michigan Representative Bill Huizenga filed S. Res. SJR 9 on Monday, according to a press release. The joint resolution requires companies registered with the SEC to annually report payments made to a foreign government or the U.S. federal government regarding the commercial development of oil, natural gas and minerals. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is a co-sponsor of the resolution.
“I am pleased to introduce this CRA against the SEC’s resource extraction rule, which would put our companies at a disadvantage by forcing them to disclose confidential business information to their private and international competitors,” said Inhofe. “Passing this CRA will right the ship and put U.S. companies back on a level playing field with their private and foreign competitors; it will also protect them from a dramatic increase in regulatory compliance costs. This is not the first time action against the SEC’s rule has been taken. In 2012, the Commission finalized essentially the same rule, which was ultimately vacated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in July 2013. It is time we take action to roll back this harmful and unlawful rule. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and Senate in getting this CRA to the President’s desk.”
The SEC finalized its rule related to the disclosure of payments by resource extraction issuers on July 27, 2016.
“The SEC’s proposed rule surrounding resource extraction pursuant to section 1504 of Dodd-Frank fails the agency’s core mission on multiple fronts,” said Michigan Representative Bill Huizenga, Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets. “Transparency is a critical element in governance and I believe there is a way for the SEC to achieve transparency regarding Section 1504; however, this revised rule falls short and remains deeply flawed.”