The Senate Agricultural Committee voted to send the three nominees to be CFTC Commissioners to the full Senate for approval. Ranking Member Cochran (R-MS) issued a statement endorsing the nominees generally, but worrying as to the Commissioners' collective lack of experience in the agricultural markets and with respect to futures generally. See: Senate Agricultural Committee Business Hearing; Ranking Member Cochran Statement. Related news: Senate Agriculture Committee to Vote on CFTC Nominations (with Delta Strategy Group Comment) (April 4, 2014); Senate Agriculture Committee Holds Hearing on

The House Committee on Agriculture introduced bipartisan legislation titled the "Customer Protection and End User Relief Act" ( H.R. 4413) to reauthorize and improve the operations of the CFTC and to address concerns relating to market certainty and customer protection. If passed, the Act would, among other things, amend the CEA to allow many end users who are legitimate "commercial market participants" to avoid being treated as financial entities. It would provide relief for end users who use contracts that result in the actual physical delivery of a commodity that has an embedded option to

The North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") held its annual Public Policy Conference in Washington D.C., featuring speakers such as SEC Commissioners Kara Stein and Luis Aguilar, as well as Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). The two panels discussed (i) digital investments, focusing on Bitcoin and other new or emerging types, and (ii) the decrease of stock ownership among Americans and how to encourage main street investors to return to the capital markets. Commissioner Stein discussed the importance of revisiting the partnership between the SEC and NASAA, especially with the

FINRA filed with the SEC proposed amendments to the security futures risk disclosure statement (the "Statement"). The original Statement was approved by the SEC in 2002, and the first supplement to the Statement was added in 2010. FINRA is proposing a second supplement to the Statement to accommodate proposed changes by OneChicago, LLC to list a product with a physical delivery settlement cycle shorter than three business days. The proposed supplement discloses that settlement by physical delivery may be effected on a time-frame shorter than three business days based on the rules of the

FINRA issued two notices as part of an initiative to conduct retrospective rule reviews on an ongoing basis. FINRA requested comments on the effectiveness and efficiency of its (i) communications with the public rules and (ii) gifts, gratuities and non-cash compensation rules. According to FINRA, the review process will consist of an assessment of the efficacy and efficiency of the rule or rule set, followed by an action phase to determine whether the findings report recommends modification of the rule or rule set. In Regulatory Notice 14-14, FINRA identified the communications with the public