WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A key committee on Wednesday morning approved legislation that would impose new regulations on credit rating agencies, which have been taken to task over unrealistically rosy ratings on sub-prime-mortgage securities and other toxic assets. The Houses Financial Services Committee approved the bill, which would still set up a number of requirements for raters, including a provision requiring each rater to set up a board of directors of which one-third of the members made up of independent directors with little or no ties to the corporation. A key feature of the legislation would bar rating firms from providing consulting services to corporations they are also rating. Investors would also be permitted to file suits against raters for failing to carry out their methodologies, based on another provision. The panel voted 49 to 14.