Promoting Opportunities for Non-Traditional Capital Formation Act

The bill would amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to assign two new duties to the SEC's Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation. First, the office would be required to provide educational resources and host or participate in events aimed at raising awareness of capital-raising options for underrepresented small businesses — specifically women-owned and minority-owned businesses, businesses in rural areas, and small businesses affected by hurricanes or other natural disasters. Second, the office would be required to meet at least once per year with representatives of state securities commissions to discuss opportunities for collaboration and coordination in assisting small businesses and their investors.

The bill does not create a new grant program, appropriate funding, or impose requirements on small businesses themselves. It is limited to expanding the outreach and coordination obligations of an existing SEC office.

The SEC's Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation, which would take on new outreach and coordination duties. Indirectly affected are women-owned, minority-owned, rural, and disaster-impacted small businesses and their investors, who are the intended beneficiaries of the expanded educational outreach. State securities commissions would also be drawn into annual coordination meetings.

For underrepresented small businesses — particularly those that are women-owned, minority-owned, located in rural areas, or recovering from disasters — access to capital through securities offerings can be opaque. Requiring a dedicated federal advocate to actively promote and explain these options could improve awareness and uptake. The annual state-regulator meetings could reduce fragmentation between federal and state capital-formation efforts.

The SEC's Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation would carry out the new duties through its existing office structure. It would need to develop or curate educational materials, schedule and conduct outreach events (or arrange participation in third-party events), and organize at least one annual meeting with state securities commission representatives each year. No rulemaking is required; the obligations are self-executing once enacted. The office would likely track and report on these activities through its existing annual reporting to Congress.