NTCA Applauds Senate Passage of ACCESS Rural America Act

NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association released the following statement from NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield applauding the U.S. Senate for passing the Access to Capital Creates Economic Strength and Supports (ACCESS) Rural America Act. The legislation amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to allow small, rural communications providers to submit streamlined financial reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after triggering certain reporting thresholds, granting them regulatory relief from more costly SEC reporting requirements.

“Federal Securities and Exchange Commission registration and reporting requirements intended for larger, publicly traded firms pose significant challenges for, and can impose substantial burdens on, smaller, locally owned companies with limited resources,” said NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield. “NTCA therefore greatly appreciates the leadership of Senators Baldwin and Ernst in introducing and passing the ACCESS Rural America Act, which will help relieve these burdens and enable small providers to focus more on their core mission of deploying and operating advanced broadband networks in rural areas.”