ACCESS Rural America Act

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) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee 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 pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access to Capital Cre- 4 ates Economic Strength and Supports Rural America 5 Act’’ or the ‘‘ACCESS Rural America Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:27 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1502.IS S1502 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1502 IS SEC. 2. SHAREHOLDER THRESHOLD FOR REGISTRATION 1 OF CERTAIN ISSUERS. 2 Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 3 (15 U.S.C. 78l(g)) is amended— 4 (1) in paragraph (1)— 5 (A) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking 6 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (B) in subparagraph (B), by adding ‘‘and’’ 8 at the end; 9 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 10 the following: 11 ‘‘(C) in the case of an issuer that, during its 12 previous fiscal year, received support, directly or 13 through an affiliate, through any Federal universal 14 service support mechanism established under section 15 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 16 254) and filed the report described in paragraph (7) 17 with respect to such fiscal year, not later than 120 18 days after the last day of its first fiscal year ended 19 after the date of enactment of this subparagraph, on 20 which the issuer has total assets exceeding 21 $10,000,000 and a class of equity security (other 22 than an exempted security) held of record by ei- 23 ther— 24 ‘‘(i) 2,000 persons, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:27 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1502.IS S1502 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1502 IS ‘‘(ii) 1,250 persons who are not accredited 1 investors,’’; and 2 (D) in the flush text following subpara- 3 graph (C), as added by subparagraph (C) of 4 this paragraph, by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: ‘‘The dollar figures in subparagraph (C) 6 shall be indexed for inflation every 5 years by 7 the Commission to reflect the change in the 8 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Con- 9 sumers published by the Bureau of Labor Sta- 10 tistics, rounded to the nearest $100,000.’’; and 11 (2) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(7) REPORT BY UNIVERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT 13 MECHANISM RECIPIENTS.— 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 15 issue regulations to establish a financial summary 16 form that may be filed by an issuer that— 17 ‘‘(i) during its previous fiscal year, received 18 support, directly or through an affiliate, 19 through any Federal universal service support 20 mechanism established under section 254 of the 21 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254); 22 and 23 ‘‘(ii) has a class of equity security held of 24 record by 500 or more persons who are not ac- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:27 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1502.IS S1502 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1502 IS credited investors, but fewer than 1,250 persons 1 who are not accredited investors. 2 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The form described in sub- 3 paragraph (A) shall include a summary of the con- 4 solidated balance sheet and the consolidated income 5 statement of the issuer and such other information 6 as the Commission determines is necessary and ap- 7 propriate in the public interest and for the protec- 8 tion of investors.’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:27 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1502.IS S1502 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS