Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Improving Access to Capital for Emerging Growth Companies Act with the gentleman from Maryland, Congressman JOHN DELANEY. This legislation builds upon the success of the original bi-partisan JOBS Act, which was enacted into law in 2012. It focuses on making improvements to the initial public offering (IPO) process for a new category of issuers known as ``emerging growth companies,'' or EGCs.
Since the passage of the JOBS Act in April 2012, which established the EGC category in Title I, more than 200 companies have registered with the SEC as EGCs. At the one year anniversary of the JOBS Act, a study by Ernst & Young showed that, ``Approximately 78 percent of all publicly filed IPO registration statements and approximately 83 percent of the IPOs that went effective since April 2012 were filed by EGCs.'' Since passage last year, Title I of the JOBS Act has clearly been a tremendous success, affording more companies the opportunity to go public and create jobs for hardworking Americans.
While this JOBS Act provision has been successful, more can be done to improve the process of going public for EGCs. The Improving Access to Capital for Emerging Growth Companies Act would reduce the number of days EGCs must have a confidential registration statement on file with the SEC from 21 days to 15 days and allow a one year grace period for an issuer that began the IPO process as an EGC to complete its IPO as an EGC. This legislation also clarifies financial disclosure requirements for EGCs and allows an EGC to confidentially submit a proposal to the SEC for a follow-on offering.
These are simple, technical improvements to the JOBS Act that improve the IPO process and allow EGCs to continue growing and providing jobs for Americans. Mr. Speaker, I want to emphasize that job creation is the most important reason to pass this legislation quickly. More companies going public leads to more expansion and investment, which will lead to job creation. The gentleman from Maryland, Mr. DELANEY, and I are pleased to be introducing this bill today.