II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3242 

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 

NOVEMBER 7, 2023 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. CRAMER, 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 3242 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 through the 

14 Federal universal service support mechanism for 

15 rural, insular, and high cost areas established under 

16 section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

17 U.S.C. 254) and filed the report described in para18 graph (7) with respect to such fiscal year, not later 

19 than 120 days after the last day of its first fiscal 

20 year ended after the date of enactment of this sub21 paragraph, on which the issuer has total assets ex22 ceeding $10,000,000 and a class of equity security 

23 (other than an exempted security) held of record by 

24 2,000 or more persons,’’; and 

25 (D) in the flush text following subpara26 graph (C), as added by subparagraph (C) of 


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•S 3242 IS

1 this paragraph, by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: ‘‘The dollar figures in subparagraph (C) 

3 shall be indexed for inflation every 5 years by 

4 the Commission to reflect the change in the 

5 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Con6 sumers published by the Bureau of Labor Sta7 tistics, rounded to the nearest $100,000.’’; and 

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

9 ‘‘(7) MANDATORY DISCLOSURES BY CERTAIN UNI10 VERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT MECHANISM RECIPIENTS.— 

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

12 issue regulations to establish a financial summary 

13 form to be filed with the Commission that may, 

14 upon request by an investor, be made available by an 

15 issuer that— 

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

17 support, directly or through an affiliate, 

18 through the Federal universal service support 

19 mechanism for rural, insular, and high cost 

20 areas established under section 254 of the Com21 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254); and 

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

23 record by— 


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1 ‘‘(I) not fewer than 500 persons who 

2 are not accredited investors (as such term 

3 is defined by the Commission); and 

4 ‘‘(II) fewer than 2,000 persons. 

5 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The form described in sub6 paragraph (A) shall include a summary of the con7 solidated balance sheet and the consolidated income 

8 statement of the issuer and such other information 

9 as the Commission determines is necessary and ap10 propriate in the public interest and for the protec11 tion of investors.’’. 

Æ 


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