FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                             98-5





 SEC TO HOST SMALL BUSINESS TOWN HALL MEETING IN AUSTIN, TEXAS



     Washington, D.C., January 15, 1998 -- The Commission today
announced that a small business town hall meeting will be held at
4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28, 1998 in the LBJ Auditorium at
the University of Texas at Austin.  The small business town hall
meetings, which are being conducted throughout the United States,
convey basic information to small businesses about fundamental
requirements that must be addressed when these businesses wish to
raise capital through the public sale of securities.  In
addition, the Commission hopes to learn more about the concerns
and problems facing small businesses in raising capital so that
programs can be designed to meet their needs, consistent with the
protection of investors.

     Commissioner Isaac C. Hunt, Jr. will be the featured speaker
at the Austin Small Business Town Hall Meeting.  Other speakers
include Jere Glover, Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the U.S. Small
Business Administration, and Denise Voigt Crawford, Texas
Securities Commissioner and President of the North American
Securities Administrators Association, among others.  A question
and answer period will follow the presentations.

     For further information, contact Barbara Jacobs in the
Office of Small Business in the Division of Corporation Finance
of the Commission at (202) 942-2950.  Or, please send an e-mail
message to the small business electronic mailbox at
"e-prospectus@sec.gov".



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