Abolish PCAOB and FINRA; merge functions into SEC; study other SROs
Mandate calls PCAOB and FINRA ineffective and opaque; Congress should abolish both and merge their regulatory functions into the SEC, and create an independent board to report within 18 months on moving other SRO functions into the SEC.
Mandate
Mandate Ch. 27 (Financial Regulatory Agencies) — SEC: to reduce costs and improve transparency, due process, congressional oversight, and responsiveness, PCAOB and FINRA should be abolished and their regulatory functions merged into the SEC; Congress should establish an independent board/commission charged with producing a detailed report within 18 months examining whether regulatory functions of various other SROs should be moved to the SEC.
Undo plan
1) Preserve PCAOB audit-inspection independence (critical for HFCAA/China listings) rather than folding into politically led SEC.
2) Keep FINRA as SRO with strengthened transparency reforms instead of full SEC absorption that centralizes industry discipline in one agency.
3) If merger statutes pass, require dual-key IG oversight, industry funding firewalls, and APA rulemaking for former SRO rules.
4) Limit SRO-to-SEC transfer study to transparency fixes unless clear due-process failures.
5) Verify: audit inspection coverage; broker examination cycle times; APA compliance of transferred rules.