Categories: OLD Media Moves

House Democrat backs law fixing SEC's FOI exemption

A top Democratic lawmaker on Tuesday proposed to take back disclosure exemptions granted to U.S. securities regulators in new financial reform legislation.

Emma Ashburn of Reuters writes, “Edolphus Towns, a New York Democrat who chairs the House Oversight and Governance Reform Committee, introduced a bill that would eliminate enhanced privacy measures for the Securities and Exchange Commission included in the Dodd-Frank Act.

“His support for such an action adds momentum to a similar measure already introduced in the Senate.

“The Dodd-Frank Act, which was signed into law last month, gave the SEC explicit exemptions from having to comply with some Freedom of Information Act requests from press and the public.

“The exemption has drawn criticism from some lawmakers, who argue it will shield the SEC from having to be transparent about its dealings with financial companies.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.