HR 3351: Improving Access to Small Business Information Act

HR 3351 in plain English: This bill exempts the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation, part of the Securities and Exchange Commission, from the procedural requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act when gathering information from the public. It still requires the office to tell people why their information is being collected.

Stated purpose

This bill aims to make it easier for the SEC's Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation to gather information from small businesses by exempting that office from most Paperwork Reduction Act requirements.

Key points

• Removes Paperwork Reduction Act compliance requirements for the SEC's small business capital formation office
• Retains the requirement to inform individuals why their information is being collected
• Applies only to the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation

Arguments supporters make

• Cutting red tape lets the small business advocate gather feedback from entrepreneurs faster, so the SEC can better understand and respond to their real needs.
• The Paperwork Reduction Act process was designed for large-scale government data collection, not for a small advocacy office trying to hear from small businesses — so the exemption is a reasonable fit.
• Small businesses already face heavy regulatory burdens, and streamlining how the government listens to them is a step toward a more responsive and accessible system.

Arguments opponents make

• The Paperwork Reduction Act exists to protect the public from unnecessary government information demands — exempting any agency office from it weakens a safeguard that applies equally to everyone.
• Even though some procedural requirements are preserved, removing the OMB review and control number requirements reduces transparency and outside checks on how the government collects public information.
• Setting a precedent that advocacy offices can bypass standard information-collection rules could open the door to broader exemptions that further erode public protections over time.

Tradeoffs

Making it faster and easier for the small business advocate to gather information comes at the cost of some standard oversight and public notification procedures that the Paperwork Reduction Act was designed to ensure.

Current status in Congress: Passed House.

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