WASHINGTON D.C. – Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) re-introduced the Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act today. He was joined by 68 House colleagues and support from Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who introduced the Senate companion of this bill, and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). This legislation repeals the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and relieves American small business owners from burdensome reporting requirements and criminal penalties.

"The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) infringes American small business owners’ privacy rights by forcing them to disclose sensitive information to the government. The CTA is a disaster for small businesses and must be repealed immediately," said Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH). "That is why I am re-introducing this legislation in the 119th Congress, and I urge my colleagues to join me in passing it."

“The Corporate Transparency Act is big-government overreach at its worst. The Biden Treasury Department is attempting to create a database on every American business owner. Failure to register by the end of the year could land you in jail. This unprecedented intrusion into personal privacy must be stopped. You’d expect this sort of thing in Communist China but not in the United States of America. I am proud to be partnering with Congressman Warren Davidson in introducing a bill to repeal the Corporate Transparency Act.” - Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).

"The Corporate Transparency Act is an unconstitutional power grab that targets more than 32 million small businesses. The law mandates small businesses to register in a massive new federal database that state, federal, and international law enforcement can access without a subpoena. Thankfully, a nationwide injunction has temporarily halted this government overreach, but Congress must step up to provide long-term relief to small businesses. NFIB is grateful for Rep. Davidson's leadership to repeal the Corporate Transparency Act and urge Congress to eliminate this burdensome and unnecessary small business mandate."  - Jeff Brabant, NFIB Vice President of Federal Government Relations

"While pursuing financial criminals is a worthwhile endeavor, FinCEN already has avenues to pursue such criminals, including suspicious activity reports and the court system, which allows discovery of information for those who are actually suspected of a crime. Nobody believes that terrorists, cartels, and money launderers will proactively give their information to the government. Further, if that were a legitimate concern, why have big businesses and financial institutions been exempted? The government has left the border wide open to terrorists, cartels and money launderers and let undocumented individuals fly on planes. We need for the government to stop treating small businesses like criminals, while they let criminals have free rein. We need a full repeal of the CTA BOI rule and that’s exactly why Rep. Davidson’s bill is so important.” - 2x New York Times best-selling author and small business expert, advocate, and owner Carol Roth.

Background:

• A Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) national survey found that 90 percent of respondents were entirely unfamiliar with these reporting requirements.
• The CTA has civil and criminal penalties of up to $10,000 and two years of jail time for failure to comply.
• Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has yet to finalize the two final beneficial ownership information (BOI) rulemakings that are critical to protecting small businesses’ personal information. These include the “Access Rule,” and the “Customer Due Diligence Rule”.
  • The Access Rule specifies the parameters around which the database can be accessed, the purposes for which the information can be used, and how the highly sensitive information will be protected.
  • The Customer Due Diligence Rule is critical to make sure BOI would not result in a duplicative reporting regime for small businesses.

Recently, Reps. Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Harriet Hageman (R-WY) published a joint op-ed in the Wall Street Journal regarding the repealing of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). It can be read online here or in-print here.