II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1502 

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 

MAY 16, 2019 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself, Ms. ERNST, Mr. CRAMER, and Ms. SINEMA) 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 1502 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 any Federal universal 

15 service support mechanism established under section 

16 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

17 254) and filed the report described in paragraph (7) 

18 with respect to such fiscal year, not later than 120 

19 days after the last day of its first fiscal year ended 

20 after the date of enactment of this subparagraph, on 

21 which the issuer has total assets exceeding 

22 $10,000,000 and a class of equity security (other 

23 than an exempted security) held of record by ei24 ther— 

25 ‘‘(i) 2,000 persons, or 


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•S 1502 IS

1 ‘‘(ii) 1,250 persons who are not accredited 

2 investors,’’; and 

3 (D) in the flush text following subpara4 graph (C), as added by subparagraph (C) of 

5 this paragraph, by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: ‘‘The dollar figures in subparagraph (C) 

7 shall be indexed for inflation every 5 years by 

8 the Commission to reflect the change in the 

9 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Con10 sumers published by the Bureau of Labor Sta11 tistics, rounded to the nearest $100,000.’’; and 

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

13 ‘‘(7) REPORT BY UNIVERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT

14 MECHANISM RECIPIENTS.— 

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

16 issue regulations to establish a financial summary 

17 form that may be filed by an issuer that— 

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

19 support, directly or through an affiliate, 

20 through any Federal universal service support 

21 mechanism established under section 254 of the 

22 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254); 

23 and 

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

25 record by 500 or more persons who are not acVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:27 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1502.IS S1502

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1 credited investors, but fewer than 1,250 persons 

2 who are not accredited investors. 

3 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The form described in sub4 paragraph (A) shall include a summary of the con5 solidated balance sheet and the consolidated income 

6 statement of the issuer and such other information 

7 as the Commission determines is necessary and ap8 propriate in the public interest and for the protec9 tion of investors.’’. 

Æ 


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