To amend section 20 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to allow for a private civil action against a person that provides substantial assistance in violation of such Act.

SA 3776. Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. Reed, Mr. Kaufman, Mr. Durbin,
Mr. Harkin, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Levin, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr.
Franken, Mr. Feingold, and Mr. Merkley) submitted an amendment intended
to be proposed to amendment SA 3739 proposed by Mr. Reid (for Mr. Dodd
(for himself and Mrs. Lincoln)) to the bill S. 3217, to promote the
financial stability of the United States by improving accountability
and transparency in the financial system, to end ``too big to fail'',
to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, to protect
consumers from abusive financial services practices, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 1004, between lines 11 and 12, insert the
following:

SEC. 929D. PRIVATE CIVIL ACTION FOR AIDING AND ABETTING.

Section 20(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15
U.S.C. 78t(e)) is amended--
(1) in the subsection heading, by striking ``Prosecution
of'' and inserting ``Actions Against'';
(2) by striking ``For purposes'' and inserting the
following:
``(1) Actions brought by commission.--For purposes''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Private civil actions.--For purposes of any private
civil action implied under this title, any person that
knowingly provides substantial assistance to another person
in violation of this title, or of any rule or regulation
issued under this title, shall be deemed to be in violation
of this title to the same extent as the person to whom such
assistance is provided. For purposes of this

[[Page S3048]]

paragraph, a person acts knowingly only if the person has
actual knowledge of the conduct underlying the violation
described in the preceding sentence.''.
______