AFREF submitted and joined coalition comment letters in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s proposed rule on climate disclosure. The coalition letters focused on Environmental Justice, Community Impacts, and Indigenous rights.
Oscar Valdés Viera, research manager at AFR and Alex Martin, senior policy analyst for climate and finance presented at the annual Consumer Assembly organized by the Consumer Federation of America.
AFREF sent a Follow Up Comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission expressing support for its proposals that would require private fund advisers to provide their investors with greater and more detailed information around the fees, expenses, returns, and bilateral investment relations (via side letters). We echo many of the comments the SEC has since received since its initial comment period and reflect how current market conditions make the Commission’s proposals especially a priority given the variation in the reporting and valuation of private market assets.
AFREF sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission expressing its support for its many proposals that would amend the definition of a “blank check company” to include the current and any future iterations of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs). Such proposals would impose greater liability on many involved in the creation and distribution of SPACs and provide investors with greater transparency into the forward looking projections that the issuers of SPACs have been misleadingly overly optimistic with.
AFR joined a letter calling on Congress to include historic, equity-minded housing investments in a revised budget reconciliation bill to narrow the racial wealth gap and increase fair and sustainable homeownership opportunities for communities of color.
AFR joined a letter in support of the Housing Fairness Act and the Downpayment Toward Equity Act.
AFREF and Public Citizen sent a letter to PCAOB in response to their request for comment on their Interim Analysis of Estimates and Specialists Audit Requirements.
Having a rapacious business like private equity watching over particularly vulnerable people has never been a good idea. Still the evidence is mounting that Wall Street has pushed the envelope in recent years. Nursing homes, youth facilities, and homes for disabled adults have all fallen under the ownership of an industry with a track record of prioritizing wealth extraction over running companies well, to say nothing of caring for people in need.
AFR joined a letter in support of the Downpayment Toward Equity Act, which provides substantial down payment assistance to first-time, first-generation homebuyers and helps close the historical racial and ethnic homeownership gaps in the United States.
“This legislation would do quite a bit to undermine existing securities laws by creating an alternative route that could bypass the current, time-tested rules,” said Mark Hays, a senior policy analyst on fintech at Americans for Financial Reform, a progressive advocacy group. He added that the bill would create a new class of securities that lack the necessary investor protections.