# Plain Language Summary: Improving Access to Small Business Information Act

This bill makes a technical change to how the federal government handles paperwork rules for a specific office called the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation. This office is part of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the agency that oversees stock markets and investments) and exists to help small businesses access funding and capital more easily.

Right now, when this office tries to gather information from small business owners or investors to understand barriers to funding, it has to follow strict federal paperwork reduction rules. These rules require the office to get approval from the Office of Management and Budget before collecting any information, display control numbers on forms, and jump through various bureaucratic hoops. The bill says that the Advocate's information-gathering activities should be exempt from most of these paperwork reduction requirements, meaning the office can collect information from small businesses and investors more quickly and with less red tape.

The bill does keep a few safeguards in place—the office still has to follow some basic record-keeping and transparency rules—but it removes the requirement to get pre-approval from the Office of Management and Budget and to display control numbers on forms. In practical terms, this means the Advocate can conduct surveys, interviews, and research about what's preventing small businesses from getting funding without getting bogged down in federal approval processes. Small business owners might notice this indirectly if they receive surveys or requests for information from this office, as those requests could come through faster and with less formal bureaucratic packaging.

Improving Access to Small Business Information Act

Kim, Young

Improving Access to Small Business Information Act This bill excludes from the Paperwork Reduction Act actions taken by the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation within the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, agencies must comply with specific procedures when gathering information from the public.The bill establishes several exceptions. For example, the office must inform the person receiving the collection of information the reasons the information is being collected, as required under current law.