Defining Dealer Act

Key Points

• This bill changes the legal definition of a dealer in the financial markets. Under the new rule, a person or company is only considered a dealer if they regularly buy stocks from customers to sell later and sell stocks to customers that they bought from someone else.
• The change aims to clarify who must follow strict government rules for financial firms. By narrowing the definition, some professional traders who currently have to register with the government might no longer be required to follow those expensive and time-consuming regulations.
• The bill requires the government to cancel past legal punishments or orders against people who would not be considered dealers under this new definition. This could undo previous fines or restrictions handed out by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• If passed, these changes would start 30 days after the bill becomes law. It would give the government and courts up to five years to clear out certain older legal cases that no longer fit the new rules.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.