Senator Shelby,
I would like to express serious concerns relative to Senator Dodd's regulatory reform bill, specifically the provisions in Section 926, entitled "Authority of State Regulators Over Regulation D Offerings" (pages 816-819).
I am the Executive Director of the Birmingham Angel Network, Birmingham's only Angel Capital Association chapter, and we are working very hard to increase the availability of angel capital to high growth start-ups in Alabama. These efforts even include the widely supported idea of creating a state tax credit for qualified angel investments. Unfortunately, increasing regulation requirements and increasing the standards for qualified investors will only make that goal harder to achieve, in a time when our state and national leaders need to be doing all they can to promote the creation and growth of new businesses.
While there are certainly reforms that are necessary and should be supported, these provisions will simply impede vitally needed areas of economic growth and we would ask that they be removed from the bill.
Sincerely,
Joshua Watkins
Executive Director
Birmingham Angel Network, LLC
