The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act now in HeinOnline

HeinOnline's recently added Taxation & Economic Reform in America Library now contains more than 140 legislative documents related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Public Law No. 111-203, 124 Stat. 1376 (2010). Compiled by William H. Manz, Senior Research Librarian at St. John's Law School, this collection includes all versions of the bill, related bills, congressional hearings, reports and debates, presidential materials, Congressional Budget Office reports, and the full text of the law itself.

The voluminous Reform Act (849 pages in the Statutes at Large) has been criticized for not going far enough in changing the U.S. financial system. Nevertheless, it has imposed new regulations on hedge funds, derivatives, private equity funds, and corporate governance. Large hedge and private equity funds are now required to register with the SEC, bringing them under federal oversight for the first time. Derivatives markets are also brought under federal oversight by the Act. The issue of excessive executive compensation has been addressed by requiring the SEC to establish compensation disclosure rules for annual reports, as well as "clawback" provisions for recovering unjust compensation. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been established and given authority to write new consumer protection rules for banks and other financial firms.

Hein's Taxation and Economic Reform in America Library is a great resource on U.S. tax laws, banking laws, securities laws, and financial reforms passed by Congress as far back as the 1800s. In addition to the recent Dodd-Frank Act, it contains resources on the Great Depression, the Wall Street Crash of 1987, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2008, and 2010 staff reports of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.