Maxine Waters (D-Cali.), a top ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, wants to make it tougher for the Securities and Exchange Commission to waive bad actor disqualifications in regulatory enforcement, according to CFO.com. Under current law, companies can, if they have been found to have committed certain crimes or violated certain regulations, be declared “bad actors” and so would not be able to take advantage of 506(b) and 506(c) of Regulation D, which allows companies to raise an unlimited amount of money when making a public offering, as well as not have to register their securities offering with the SEC (filling out a Form D instead),  provided they satisfy certain criteria.

The rule, however, does let the SEC grant waivers from this designation, which Rep. Waters thinks it does far too often. She cited a study that found, between 2003 and 2014, about 82 percent of all waivers granted were given to large financial companies. Most recently, in a move that Waters and other Democrats criticized, the SEC granted Oppenheimer and Co. a waiver after it agreed to pay $20 million and admit to wrongdoing regarding charges of money laundering, according to CFO.com.

Waters has introduced legislation that would require that the SEC commissioners themselves be responsible for granting waivers, rather than staff, and in so doing be required to consider whether granting the waiver is in the public interest, protects investors, and promotes market integrity, said CFO.com. It would also mandate a public notice and comment period on waivers, and would give the opportunity to request a hearing on the waiver itself, all of which is intended to make the process more transparent and cut down on the number of waivers, said CFO.com.