SEC quietly exempts small-business office from federal paperwork review
H.R. 3351 — Improving Access to Small Business Information Act · Filed by Young Kim (R-CA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced May 13, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill exempts the SEC's Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation from most Paperwork Reduction Act requirements when gathering information. The Advocate will no longer need to submit collections to the Office of Management and Budget, display control numbers, or indicate clearance status — though some procedural requirements still apply. The practical effect is to streamline the Advocate's ability to gather data from small businesses without federal paperwork review delays.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to carve out the SEC's Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation from Paperwork Reduction Act oversight, reducing procedural friction on information collection. It is a narrow, technical amendment to existing law.
What the text implies
- The Advocate's information-gathering activities will no longer be subject to OMB review for burden justification, potentially allowing collection of sensitive small-business data (financial metrics, competitive information, operational details) with minimal federal scrutiny of whether the burden is proportionate to the public benefit.
- Removal of control-number and clearance-status disclosure requirements means small businesses receiving requests from the Advocate will not be informed that the collection is exempt from standard PRA protections, reducing transparency about the regulatory status of the request.
The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
small businesses (reduced compliance burden on information requests); SEC Advocate office (streamlined operations, faster data collection)