Earlier this week, Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee released the details of his sweeping regulatory reform bill.  Included in that bill was a provision for hedge fund registration.   This  follows the litany of proposed bills in both the House and Senate and the recent passing of a House bill by the Financial Services Committee.

The highlights of Senator Dodd’s bill is that it puts the threshold at $100 million AUM for mandatory registration (unlike the House bill which was $150M) and it exempts private equity and venture capital firms from registration although the ultimate decision of who will be exempted from registration will fall to the SEC.   The bill also imposes new record-keeping and disclosure requirements for firms that manage private funds.

With the House preparing to take up debate about their regulatory overhaul bill, and this bill marking the starting point in the Senate, we will hopefully have a better idea of exactly where the final bill will end up very soon.