Alabamians trying to start small businesses in a tough credit market may soon have a new method that will allow them to raise small amounts of capital from many Alabama investors.
Republican state Sen. Arthur Orr of Decatur says he will sponsor a bill in the upcoming legislative session to allow "crowd funding." It would cap investors at $5,000 each and would limit crowd funding to $1 million per business.
The director of the Alabama Securities Commission, Joe Borg, says it's an idea whose time has come. He said businesses will still register with the Securities Commission, but they won't have as much paperwork or expense as traditional ways of raising capital.