Congress raises crowdfunding bar—but weakens investor protections
H.R. 3645 — ACCESS Act of 2025 · Filed by Daniel Meuser (R-PA) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced May 29, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill raises the crowdfunding exemption threshold from $100,000 to $250,000 — the point at which small companies raising money online must have their financial statements reviewed by an independent accountant. It also lets the SEC increase that threshold up to $400,000 on recommendation from its small-business and investor advocate offices. The bill aims to reduce compliance costs for early-stage companies seeking capital.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward regulatory threshold adjustment designed to reduce compliance burden on small issuers using the crowdfunding exemption. It is not a deregulation (the requirement remains; the trigger point moves) but a targeted relief measure.
What the text implies
- Retail crowdfunding investors in the $100k–$250k band lose independent financial review, shifting due-diligence burden from issuers to individual investors who may lack expertise.
- SEC discretion to raise the threshold to $400k creates regulatory uncertainty and potential for future expansion without congressional action, depending on advocacy office recommendations.
- The bill does not address whether issuers must disclose the absence of independent review to investors, potentially obscuring the reduced assurance level.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Small businesses and entrepreneurs benefit from lower compliance costs and easier capital access. However, retail crowdfunding investors lose the protection of independent financial review for offerings between $100k–$250k, creating an asymmetry: issuers save money while ordinary people funding these ventures receive weaker financial assurance.
Who stands to gain
- early-stage companies and startups using Regulation Crowdfunding
- crowdfunding platforms (reduced compliance friction for their clients)
Named in the bill
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation, Office of the Investor Advocate, Section 4A of the Securities Act of 1933, Regulation Crowdfunding
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 4 Republicans.
- May 29, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 29, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
- Jun 10, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jun 10, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 51 - 0”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $54,660,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 254 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Daniel Meuser, the sponsor, reported $835,786 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $54,660,000 on 3 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,149 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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