For decades, paper investor disclosures have been mailed to every investor. Paper mail ensured that investors, regardless of their technical ability or internet access, received critical financial information. S. 1877, theImproving Disclosure for Investors Act of 2025, proposes to make electronic delivery the default for investor communications. No more paper. Investors would be required to actively opt out of digital-only notifications.
The Improving Disclosure for Investors Act of 2025was first introduced in the Senate in May of 2025, and is now in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. A companion House bill,H.R. 2441, has moved further along, clearing the House Financial Services Committee in 2025.
Paper Just Works
While the bill is being framed as a modernization effort, we here at Two Sides are concerned; ourTrend Trackersurvey found that the right to choose remains important to consumers. 80% of U.S. consumers agree they should have the right to choose between paper and electronic communications, especially when dealing with financial and service providers.
The practical consequences of switching to digital-only notifications have the potential to be significant and wide-reaching. Millions of older Americans, rural investors, and lower-income households with limited broadband access may find themselves inadvertently cut off from timely financial disclosures.Tens of millions of Americans still lack reliable home internet access, a reality that legislators haven’t fully reckoned with in advancing this bill. Missing an important regulatory notice, a prospectus update, a fee change, a fund restructuring, or a proxy vote notification could lead to uninformed investment decisions with very real financial consequences. For retail investors without dedicated financial advisors, a paper disclosure is often their only direct window into the health and direction of their investments.
The Reliability Gap
There’s also a deeper concern about accountability. Paper documents create a clear, physical record that arrives at a known address on a predictable schedule. They don’t require a login, a functioning device, or an active internet connection. Electronic communications, by contrast, can be filtered into spam folders, lost in cluttered inboxes, delayed by server issues, or rendered permanently inaccessible when email addresses change or accounts expire. The assumption that digital delivery is inherently more reliable reflects the experience of tech-savvy, consistently connected users, not the full diversity of the American investing public.
A disproportionate share of the risk of missing important information falls on vulnerable populations. Senior citizens, who represent one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of retail investors, are statistically less likely to monitor email accounts with the frequency needed to catch time-sensitive financial notices. Low-tech knowledge or cognitive issues can make navigating digital portals and managing electronic opt-out processes particularly challenging. For this group, a physical document arriving in the mail has long been more than a formality, it’s a dependable touchpoint that prompts review, action, and engagement with their financial lives.
Who Benefits
The financial industry, meanwhile, stands to benefit substantially through reduced printing and mailing costs, savings estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually. But those gains accrue almost entirely to large institutions, not to the individual investors the disclosure system was originally designed to protect. It’s worth asking whether cost-cutting for Wall Street should come at the expense of accessibility protections for the consumer.
The transitional safeguards built into the bill, including initial paper notifications and a limited opt-out window, do offer some short-term protection. But these measures are time-limited and depend on investors taking timely, deliberate action. Once the transition period expires, the onus falls entirely on the individual to maintain their paper preference, a burden that will predictably erode over time as institutions de-emphasize the opt-out pathway.
Accessibility for All
Ultimately, the shift from paper-first to digital-first investor communications isn’t just a procedural update or bureaucratic housekeeping. It’s a fundamental reordering of who bears responsibility for staying informed. When that responsibility shifts from well-resourced financial institutions to individual investors, including those who are elderly, underserved, or digitally disconnected, the risk isn’t hypothetical. It’s structural, predictable, and likely to fall hardest on those least equipped to absorb it.
The bottom line? Adopting digital communication as the standard doesn’t ensure equal access for all. TheImproving Disclosure for Investors Act of 2025has the potential to disenfranchise countless investors.
Have more questions aboutUS Congress S.1877bill?
Contact:
Clara Cozort,
American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA)
Manager, Government Affairs
Clara_Cozort@afandpa.org
Two Sides North America is a member-supported non-profit advocacy organization for the paper, paper-based packaging, direct mail and graphic communications industries. Their goal is to dispel common environmental misconceptions and to inspire and inform businesses and consumers with engaging, factual information about the environmental sustainability and value of print, paper, and paper-based packaging. They are the only group working to dispel and remove Greenwashing language used by companies and organizations in North America.
To learn more about Two Sides North America and how to become a member, please visittwosidesna.org. This piece originally appeared on their blog.
