WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) cosponsored legislation this week with Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) defending America’s small businesses from burdensome and intrusive overregulation of their finances. The bill would stop the collection of personal “Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI)” from small businessowners and delete this private data from the federal government’s records. 

“The federal bureaucracy loves to bury small businessowners in paperwork that costs time, money, and even their private information,” said Senator Mike Lee. “I have long opposed the Corporate Transparency Act’s overregulation and its Beneficial Ownership Information reporting requirement and have ardently advocated for repeal. I’m proud to cosponsor Senator Kennedy's critical legislation to end these burdensome reporting rules for American-based businesses,” said Lee.

“When an obscure government policy requires small business owners to fork over personal data that even our government admits it doesn’t need, it’s time to change that policy,” said Senator John Kennedy. “That’s why I’m leading the bill to permanently end this burdensome mandate and keep law-abiding Americans’ personal information out of a database it should never have been in,” said Kennedy.

Joining Senator Lee in cosponsoring this legislation are Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jim Justice (R-WV), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Jim Banks (R-IN), and Tim Sheehy (R-MT). The bill is also endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

“Texas is home to more than 3.5 million small businesses. They are the backbone of our economy, and they should not be treated like criminal suspects by Washington bureaucrats,” said Senator Ted Cruz. “We should be protecting their privacy and reducing regulatory burdens on American small businesses, and I’m glad to join Senator Kennedy in introducing this bill.”

“By imposing heavy compliance burdens, the Beneficial Ownership Information requirement in the Corporate Transparency Act distracts small business owners from essential tasks, such as innovation, customer service, and daily operations,” said Senator Marsha Blackburn. “It is essential that we repeal and remove this requirement from FinCEN.”

“I’m proud to support this legislation that reins in unnecessary data collection and puts U.S. small businesses’ privacy first,” said Senator Shelley Moore Capito. “For too long, hardworking Americans—including many West Virginians—have faced overly broad reporting requirements that do little to enhance security while also exposing their sensitive personal information. This bill takes a targeted, responsible approach that ensures oversight efforts are focused where they matter most, while lifting an undue burden.”

“I've heard loud and clear from Kansas small business owners that the Corporate Transparency Act's reporting requirements are too costly and too burdensome,” said Senator Roger Marshall. “Since the CTA took effect, it became clear that requiring American small business owners to register sensitive personal information with a federal database was not going to work. I’m glad to join Senator Kennedy’s bill, which will save American small businesses billions of dollars. I'll push hard to get it across the finish line so that American businesses can have the certainty of knowing it won't be rearing its ugly head again.”

Background

Under the Corporate Transparency Act, the federal government mandates the collection of “Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI)” from small business owners: their full legal names, dates of birth, addresses and unique identifying numbers. 

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has found these reporting requirements to be overly onerous and intrusive for small businesses.

In 2025, FinCEN issued a rule narrowing the scope of the data collection to foreign reporting companies, pausing the collection of many Americans’ data.

This legislation would make this March 2025 rule law and require FinCEN to delete Americans’ data already collected under the 2021 requirement. By ending this data collection, the bill would save taxpayers an average of $9 billion per year and save U.S. small businesses $6.7 billion over 10 years.

Access the full bill text here.

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