II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4689 

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to revise the shareholder 

threshold for registration under that Act for issuers that receive support 

through certain Federal universal service support mechanisms, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2022 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself and Ms. ERNST) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to revise 

the shareholder threshold for registration under that Act 

for issuers that receive support through certain Federal 

universal service support mechanisms, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access to Capital Cre5 ates Economic Strength and Supports Rural America 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘ACCESS Rural America Act’’. 


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•S 4689 IS

1 SEC. 2. SHAREHOLDER THRESHOLD FOR REGISTRATION 

2 OF CERTAIN ISSUERS. 

3 Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

4 (15 U.S.C. 78l(g)) is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

6 (A) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking 

7 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

8 (B) in subparagraph (B), by adding ‘‘and’’ 

9 at the end; 

10 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(C) in the case of an issuer that, during its 

13 previous fiscal year, received support, directly or 

14 through an affiliate, through the Federal universal 

15 service support mechanism for rural, insular, and 

16 high cost areas established under section 254 of the 

17 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) and 

18 filed the report described in paragraph (7) with re19 spect to such fiscal year, not later than 120 days 

20 after the last day of its first fiscal year ended after 

21 the date of enactment of this subparagraph, on 

22 which the issuer has total assets exceeding 

23 $10,000,000 and a class of equity security (other 

24 than an exempted security) held of record by 2,000 

25 persons,’’; and 


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1 (D) in the flush text following subpara2 graph (C), as added by subparagraph (C) of 

3 this paragraph, by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: ‘‘The dollar figures in subparagraph (C) 

5 shall be indexed for inflation every 5 years by 

6 the Commission to reflect the change in the 

7 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Con8 sumers published by the Bureau of Labor Sta9 tistics, rounded to the nearest $100,000.’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(7) MANDATORY DISCLOSURES BY CERTAIN UNI12 VERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT MECHANISM RECIPIENTS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

14 issue regulations to establish a financial summary 

15 form that may, upon request by an investor, be 

16 made available by an issuer that— 

17 ‘‘(i) during its previous fiscal year, received 

18 support, directly or through an affiliate, 

19 through the Federal universal service support 

20 mechanism for rural, insular, and high cost 

21 areas established under section 254 of the Com22 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254); and 

23 ‘‘(ii) has a class of equity security held of 

24 record by not fewer than 500, and fewer than, 

25 2,000 persons. 


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1 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The form described in sub2 paragraph (A) shall include a summary of the con3 solidated balance sheet and the consolidated income 

4 statement of the issuer and such other information 

5 as the Commission determines is necessary and ap6 propriate in the public interest and for the protec7 tion of investors.’’. 

Æ 


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