U.S. Senator Mike Lee announced on Apr. 29 that he has cosponsored legislation with Senator John Kennedy aimed at stopping the federal government from collecting and retaining personal Beneficial Ownership Information from small business owners. The bill would also require deletion of previously collected data from federal records.
The proposed legislation seeks to address concerns about privacy and regulatory burdens for small businesses, particularly in response to requirements established by the Corporate Transparency Act. Supporters say the current rules place unnecessary strain on entrepreneurs by requiring them to submit sensitive personal information.
“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.” Kennedy said, “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… 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.” Other senators including Ted Cruz, Marsha Blackburn, Shelley Moore Capito, Roger Marshall, Jim Justice, Pete Ricketts, Jim Banks, and Tim Sheehy are also cosponsoring the measure.
Senator Ted Cruz said: “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… We should be protecting their privacy and reducing regulatory burdens on American small businesses.” Senator Marsha Blackburn added: “By imposing heavy compliance burdens, the Beneficial Ownership Information requirement in the Corporate Transparency Act distracts small business owners from essential tasks… It is essential that we repeal and remove this requirement from FinCEN.” Additional support came from Senators Capito and Marshall who echoed concerns about costliness and intrusiveness.
Under current law established by the Corporate Transparency Act, full legal names, dates of birth, addresses and unique identifying numbers must be reported by certain business owners. In March 2025 a rule was issued narrowing this scope only to foreign companies; however this new bill would make those changes permanent while requiring deletion of previously gathered data on Americans.
According to the official website, Lee has championed constitutional principles such as individual liberty throughout his career as U.S. senator for Utah. He grew up in Provo as a fourth-generation Utahn—the son of Rex E. Lee—and earned both his bachelor’s degree in political science as well as a Juris Doctor at Brigham Young University.
