(Sec. 2) Amends the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 to conform its filing fee requirements with this Act.
(Sec. 3) Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to revise the filing fees related to the purchase of securities by issuers and to preliminary proxy solicitations to reflect such modified offsetting collection fee schedule.
Mandates that fees collected during any fiscal year be deposited and credited as offsetting collections.
(Sec. 4) Replaces the statutory transaction fee and assessment formula for either a national securities exchange or national securities association with a transaction offsetting collection rate which is the uniform rate required to reach a specified transaction fee cap for the fiscal year.
(Sec. 5) Prescribes guidelines for adjustments to fee rates, including: (1) estimates of collections; (2) a floor for total fee and assessment collections; and (3) a cap on total fee and assessment collections.
Instructs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to: (1) decrease or suspend the applicable fee rate to an amount that is not more than 110 percent of the cap on total fee collections if it projects that the aggregate amount of fees and assessments collected will exceed the cap on such collections by more than ten percent; and (2) explain to certain congressional committees the methodology used to make its estimates of collections.
Exempts SEC determinations and actions from judicial review.
Requires the SEC to notify each national securities exchange or national securities association prior to taking action with respect to either a total fee collection floor or a total fee collection cap.
(Sec. 6) Amends public law governing Federal employees' performance to place SEC personnel compensation and benefits guidelines outside the purview of existing requirements for: (1) Personnel Research Programs and Demonstrations Projects; (2) classification schemes; and (3) pay rates and systems.
Establishes an SEC personnel demonstration project. Authorizes the SEC to set and adjust rates of basic pay for all SEC employees, including additional compensation and benefits if the same type are then being provided under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration Board, the Federal Housing Finance Board, the Thrift Depositor Protection Oversight Board, the Farm Credit Administration, or the Office of Thrift Supervision.
Directs the SEC to develop an implementation plan for inclusion in its annual program performance report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Requires a special report to specified congressional committees and the Office of Personnel Management.
(Sec. 7) Instructs the SEC Office of Economic Analysis to study and report to Congress on the extent to which investors receive the benefits of fee reductions effected under this Act. Prescribes factors for consideration.