SEC to modernize disclosure delivery; investors keep paper option

What it does

This bill directs the SEC to create rules allowing investment firms, brokers, advisers, and other securities entities to deliver required regulatory documents (prospectuses, account statements, proxy statements, privacy notices, etc.) to investors electronically instead of on paper. Firms must give investors an initial paper notice, a transition period of up to 180 days, and the right to opt out and receive paper copies at any time. The SEC has 180 days to propose rules and one year to finalize them.

Why we flagged it

The bill modernizes how securities firms deliver mandatory disclosures by permitting electronic methods while preserving investor choice and substantive protections. It is a procedural efficiency measure, not a deregulation or carve-out.

What the text implies

• Firms may reduce paper-delivery infrastructure costs significantly; investors who do not actively opt out will receive documents electronically by default after transition period, shifting burden of choice to investor action rather than firm action.
• SEC must review all existing rules requiring 'written' delivery and amend them to permit electronic satisfaction; this broad review could affect disclosure rules beyond those explicitly named in the bill.
• Self-regulatory organizations (FINRA, MSRB, etc.) must adopt conforming rules; inconsistency across SROs could create compliance complexity for multi-jurisdictional firms.
• Exemption from Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN) may limit certain legal protections or dispute-resolution mechanisms that would otherwise apply to electronic documents.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Investors retain full opt-out rights and paper delivery options while firms gain operational efficiency; the bill preserves substantive disclosure obligations and adds safeguards (readability, failed-delivery remediation, confidentiality measures) without reducing transparency or investor protections.

Who stands to gain

• investment companies and mutual funds
• broker-dealers
• registered investment advisers
• business development companies
• transfer agents
• funding portals

Named in the bill

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Investment Company Act of 1940, Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN), self-regulatory organizations (SROs), FINRA, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB)

Where it stands

10 cosponsors: 6 Democrats, 4 Republicans.

• May 22, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• May 22, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

17 lobbying clients named this bill on 32 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $74,426,510 in lobbying spend. A filing names 12 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 96% of bills with at least one filing.

Thom Tillis, the sponsor, reported $973,475 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $10,000 of that came from 3 PACs tied to these lobbying clients.

• Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $54,660,000 on 3 filings
• AARP — $5,300,000 on 1 filing
• Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association — $5,090,000 on 2 filings
• Investment Company Institute — $2,106,510 on 2 filings
• Fmr LLC — $1,330,000 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.