Financial Services Committee Unanimously Advances Meuser’s ACCESS Act of 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a 51-0 vote yesterday, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 3645, the Amendment for Crowdfunding Capital Enhancement and Small-Business Support Act of 2025 (“ACCESS Act”), authored by Rep. Dan Meuser (PA-09). The bipartisan vote propels the measure to the full House floor, marking a significant step toward modernizing Regulation CF and expanding access to capital for America’s smallest businesses.

The ACCESS Act:

• Cuts red tape for entrepreneurs. It raises the threshold at which companies must obtain a costly financial-statement review by a public accountant from $100,000 to $250,000.
• Builds in flexibility. The bill lets the Securities and Exchange Commission bump that figure as high as $400,000 when recommended by the Offices of the Investor Advocate and Small Business Capital Formation Advocate, ensuring the rule keeps pace with inflation and marketplace realities.

Rep. Dan Meuser: “America’s entrepreneurs shouldn’t have to choose between raising the capital they need and paying accountants more than they plan to raise. The ACCESS Act updates outdated thresholds so the next great neighborhood brewery, tech start-up, or Main Street retailer can spend its first dollars on growth—not paperwork.”

Chairman French Hill: “Under Mr. Meuser's bill, issuers using crowdfunding exemption will only be required to file financial statements to be reviewed by an independent accountant for offerings over $250,000, as opposed to that current threshold of $100,000. I commend Mr. Meuser for drafting a bill that surgically right-sizes our security laws to lessen the burdens on those small businesses raising small amounts of capital.” 

Subcommittee on Capital Markets Chairman Ann Wager: “For many small businesses, regulation crowdfunding, or Reg CF, is the only realistic path for raising early-stage capital outside of friends and family. Unfortunately, the structure of the current rules often treats these micro-issuers like they're conducting multi-million-dollar offerings, and that is simply a mismatch, said The ACCESS Act makes a simple but important change. It updates the financial statement review threshold to better reflect the modest size and risk profile of most Reg CF offerings. This is not about rolling back investor protections. It's about right-sizing clients to fit the scale of capital being raised. When regulatory costs exceed 10% of the funds an entrepreneur is trying to raise, the rules aren't serving anyone, not issuers, not investors who want to access early-stage deals.”

Next Steps

Following today’s committee approval, H.R. 3645 heads to the House floor, where Rep. Meuser will seek swift passage.

Background

Regulation CF, created by the JOBS Act of 2012, allows everyday investors to back early-stage companies online. Yet many start-ups remain below the current $100,000 financial-review threshold, forcing them to choose between expensive compliance or forgoing crowdfunding altogether. The ACCESS Act updates the dollar amounts for the first time in over a decade and gives the SEC an on-ramp to adjust them in the future, ensuring the rule scales with the economy while maintaining robust investor safeguards.

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