Congress quietly expands research-report loophole for all securities offerings
H.R. 3672 — Securities Research Modernization Act · Filed by Roger Williams (R-TX) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jun 2, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill amends the Securities Act of 1933 to expand an existing exemption from research-report disclosure rules. Currently, the exemption applies only to research reports about emerging growth companies (smaller, newer public firms). The bill broadens it to cover research reports about ANY issuer planning a public securities offering, and expands the types of securities covered from common equity to any security type. The effect is to allow more research reports to circulate without triggering disclosure obligations that would otherwise apply.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to expand an existing exemption from securities-research disclosure rules. It does not create a new rule or prohibition; it widens an existing carve-out that allows certain research reports to avoid triggering disclosure obligations. The functional effect is to reduce transparency requirements for financial research.
What the text implies
- Expands the exemption to cover research on ANY issuer planning an offering, not just smaller/newer firms, which may increase the volume of undisclosed-conflict research circulating during IPO and secondary-offering periods when investor protection is most critical.
- The shift from 'common equity' to 'any' security type means the exemption now covers research on bonds, preferred stock, derivatives, and other instruments where conflicts of interest and analyst bias may be equally or more consequential.
- Emerging growth companies were a narrower category with specific regulatory protections; broadening to 'any issuer' removes that targeting and may allow large, well-resourced firms to benefit from reduced research-disclosure obligations.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill expands an exemption that allows research reports to circulate without triggering disclosure obligations designed to protect investors from conflicts of interest and hidden biases. Broadening this exemption to all issuers planning offerings—not just emerging growth companies—means more research reports can be published without the transparency safeguards that would otherwise apply, potentially exposing retail investors to undisclosed conflicts and biased analysis.
Who stands to gain
- investment banks and underwriters (reduced disclosure burden during offerings)
- equity research analysts and brokerage firms (expanded safe harbor for publishing research without c
- issuers planning public offerings (ability to benefit from favorable research without triggering dis
Named in the bill
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Securities Act of 1933, emerging growth companies, investment banks, equity research analysts, public securities offerings
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Jun 2, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 2, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
- Jun 10, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jun 10, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 31 - 19”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $17,960,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 290 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Roger Williams, the sponsor, reported $529,851 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $17,960,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (511 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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