Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill that would amend some sections of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in an effort to ease the compliance burden on smaller companies and clarify the act’s requirements for everyone else. According to Bloomberg News, Feeney believes if he can win bipartisan support for his measures, it would give Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox “cover as a regulator [to make] some reasonable reforms in the way they impose these things.” Among the proposals are new definitions of terms such as “material weakness,” and less frequent audits if a company complies with SOX requirements for one year. Feeney had also proposed an exemption to Sec. 404 for companies with market values of under $700 million, but the SEC made it clear on Wednesday that all companies, large and small, would have to comply.