H.R. 4360 – ACCESS Rural America Act

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Updated January 20, 2026 at 9:28 AM UTC

The ACCESS Rural America Act changes the rules for when companies that receive federal universal service support must register under the Securities Exchange Act. It raises the asset and shareholder thresholds for those issuers and adds new disclosure requirements. The changes target rural, insular, and high‑cost area telecom providers and other firms that get this support.

Key Provisions

Adds a new threshold: issuers that received universal service support and did not issue securities must have assets over $10 million and at least 2,000 shareholders of record to trigger registration requirements.
Requires the dollar thresholds to be adjusted for inflation every five years based on the CPI.
Creates a mandatory disclosure rule for issuers with 500‑2,000 shareholders that received universal service support, obligating them to provide a financial summary form (balance sheet, income statement, certification of no securities issuance, and any other information the SEC deems necessary) to investors upon request.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action

HouseIntro Referral Latest Action

Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Financial Services Committee

June 23, 2023

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HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

June 23, 2023

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Financial Services Committee

June 23, 2023

Bill Text

Latest available legislative text

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Introduced in HouseIssued June 23, 2023

I

118th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 4360

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 23, 2023

Mr. Tiffany (for himself, Mr. Sorensen, and Mr. Grothman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

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.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Access to Capital Creates Economic Strength and Supports Rural America Act or the ACCESS Rural America Act.

2.

Shareholder threshold for registration of certain issuers

Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l(g)) is amended—

(1)

in paragraph (1)—

(A)

in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking and at the end;

(B)

in subparagraph (B), by adding and at the end;

(C)

by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:

(C)

in the case of an issuer that, during its previous fiscal year, received support, directly or through an affiliate, through the Federal universal service support mechanism for rural, insular, and high cost areas established under section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) and filed the report described in paragraph (7) with respect to such fiscal year, and did not issue securities (other than splitting of existing securities) during the previous fiscal year and does not intend to do so during the present fiscal year, not later than 120 days after the last day of its first fiscal year ended after the date of enactment of this subparagraph, on which the issuer has total assets exceeding $10,000,000 and a class of equity security (other than an exempted security) held of record by 2,000 or more persons,

; and

(D)

in the flush text following subparagraph (C), as added by subparagraph (C) of this paragraph, by adding at the end the following: The dollar figures in subparagraph (C) shall be indexed for inflation every 5 years by the Commission to reflect the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, rounded to the nearest $100,000.; and

(2)

by adding at the end the following:

(7)

Mandatory disclosures by certain universal service support mechanism recipients

(A)

In general

The Commission shall issue regulations to establish a financial summary form that shall, upon request by an investor, be made available by an issuer that—

(i)

during its previous fiscal year, received support, directly or through an affiliate, through the Federal universal service support mechanism for rural, insular, and high cost areas established under section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254); and

(ii)

has a class of equity security held of record by not fewer than 500, and fewer than, 2,000 persons.

(B)

Contents

The form described in subparagraph (A) shall include—

(i)

a summary of the consolidated balance sheet and the consolidated income statement of the issuer;

(ii)

a certification that the issuer did not issue securities (other than splitting of existing securities) during the previous fiscal year and does not intend to do so during the present fiscal year; and

(iii)

such other information as the Commission determines is necessary and appropriate in the public interest and for the protection of investors.

.