Many would agree that now is a good time to revamp old securities laws with the goal of making it easier for small companies to access capital.

Crowd-funding is an idea with enormous political appeal. A recent proposal put forth by three Senators would "rewrite the Securities Act of 1933 to extend an exemption of stock sales restrictions to private startup companies, allowing them to sell shares through crowdsourcing websites, so long as the investments are kept to $1,000 dollars or less and the total stocks sold are kept to $1 million a year," notes TPM.

Currently, the SEC only allows accredited investors to invest in private companies before an IPO. A crowd-funding bill has already passed the House. Last month, the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act was approved with bipartisan support. That proposal limits individual crowd-funded investments to $10,000 or less or 10 percent of the investors' income; it also caps the total amount of securities issued by a company at $2 million.

While it seems that some sort of law will be passed in the near future, there are some concerns. NASAA, the cops on the securities law beat, has warned that future laws should not allow companies to raise funds via crowd-sourcing without first registering with state regulators, notes Investment News. Intermediaries should also be required to register at the federal or state level, some have suggested.

For more:
- here's the article on NASAA