Maybe it's a coincidence that the same year Facebook's lobbying presence in Washington ballooned, legislators introduced a bill that would rewrite securities law in the social network's favor. In any case, that's what happened yesterday when Senators Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Tom Carper of Delaware submitted a bill that would kill the 500-shareholder rule requiring companies to disclose financial information once they acquire that many investors. The bill's two co-sponsors are Senators Mark Warner of Viriginia and Mike Johanns of Nebraska. In the past few years, the law has been endlessly cited as a reason Facebook will soon go public--a prospect its CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been openly unenthusiastic about. The new legislation could delay a Facebook IPO as it increases the shareholder limit from 500 to 2,000.

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