Dissent By Commissioner Jill E. Sommers

Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Submission

April 10, 2013

I respectfully dissent from the Commission’s FY 2014 President’s Budget & Performance Plan budget submission (the “Budget”).  On February 27, 2013 Chairman Gensler testified before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and stated that, due to a lack of resources, the Commission is “shelving” enforcement cases.  I had not previously been notified of such a decision, and was therefore very surprised and deeply troubled by his testimony.  Protecting the public and market participants by maintaining a robust enforcement program is one of our five stated primary goals as an agency. (See Budget, pg. 6).   A strong enforcement program is also a key pillar in realizing several of our other stated primary goals.  If we are indeed “shelving” enforcement cases then we have gravely mismanaged our resources.  Irrespective of what resources are allocated to us through the appropriation process, we clearly need to shift more resources to Enforcement. “Shelving” enforcement cases should never be an option.

Last Updated: April 10, 2013