Agencies and Commissions January 11, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Securities and Exchange Commission (the ``Commission'') is publishing this notice pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (the ``2015 Act''). This Act requires all agencies to annually adjust for inflation the civil monetary penalties that can be imposed under the statutes administered by the agency and publish the adjusted amounts in the Federal Register. This notice sets forth the annual inflation adjustment of the maximum amount of civil monetary penalties (``CMPs'') administered by the Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Exchange Act''), the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and certain penalties under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. These amounts are effective beginning on January 15, 2018, and will apply to all penalties imposed after that date for violations of the aforementioned statutes that occurred after November 2, 2015.

This is a notice of an Administrative declaration of a disaster for the State of Louisiana dated 01/02/2018. Incident: Tropical Storm Harvey. Incident Period: 08/27/2017 through 09/10/2017.

This is a notice of an administrative declaration of a disaster for the state of New York dated 01/04/2018. Incident: Multi-Alarm Fire. Incident Period: 11/30/2017.

This is an amendment of the presidential declaration of a major disaster for public assistance only for the state of Mississippi (FEMA-4350-DR), dated 11/22/2017. Incident: Hurricane Nate. Incident Period: 10/06/2017 through 10/10/2017.

This is a notice of the presidential declaration of a major disaster for public assistance only for the state of Vermont (FEMA- 4356-DR), dated 01/02/2018. Incident: Severe Storm and Flooding. Incident Period: 10/29/2017 through 10/30/2017.

This is a notice of the presidential declaration of a major disaster for public assistance only for the state of Maine (FEMA-4354- DR), dated 01/02/2018. Incident: Severe Storm and Flooding. Incident Period: 10/29/2017 through 11/01/2017.

Notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board (Board).

This regulation implements inflation adjustments to civil money penalties (CMPs) that the Farm Credit Administration (FCA) may impose or enforce pursuant to the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended (Farm Credit Act), and pursuant to the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973, as amended by the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 (Reform Act), and further amended by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (Biggert-Waters Act).

The Commission is publishing its adjustments to inflation annually, pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (2015 Act). The 2015 Act requires that agencies adjust and publish their civil penalties by January 15 each year.

We are adopting amendments to the rule that defines a venture capital fund (rule 203(l)-1) and the rule that implements the private fund adviser exemption (rule 203(m)-1) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the ``Advisers Act'') in order to reflect changes made by title LXXIV, sections 74001 and 74002 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act of 2015 (the ``FAST Act''), which amended sections 203(l) and 203(m) of the Advisers Act. Title LXXIV, section 74001 of the FAST Act amended the exemption from investment adviser registration for any adviser solely to one or more ``venture capital funds'' in Advisers Act section 203(l) by deeming ``small business investment companies'' to be ``venture capital funds'' for purposes of the exemption. Accordingly, we are amending the definition of a venture capital fund to include ``small business investment companies.'' Title LXXIV, section 74002 of the FAST Act amended the exemption from investment adviser registration for any adviser solely to ``private funds'' with less than $150 million in assets under management in Advisers Act section 203(m) by excluding the assets of ``small business investment companies'' when calculating ``private fund assets'' towards the registration threshold of $150 million. Accordingly, we are amending the definition of ``assets under management'' in the rule that implements the private fund adviser exemption to exclude the assets of ``small business investment companies.''