Plaintiffs Fail In Second Constitutional Challenge To DBO Desist And Refrain Orders

Three years ago, I wrote about a constitutional challenge to a desist and refrain order issued under the California Corporate Securities Law and the California Finance Lenders Law (nka the California Financing Law).  In Shurnas v. Owen, 2016 U.S....

Is Artificial Intelligence The Future Of Rulemaking?

Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a new rule establishing a standard of conduct for broker-dealers and natural persons who are associated persons of a broker-dealer when making a recommendation of any securities...

Staff Guidance - What Would California Do?

Recently, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton released a public statement emphasizing that "all staff statements are nonbinding and create no enforceable legal rights or obligations of the Commission or other parties." The...

Did The SEC Violate The APA In Publishing Its Statement And Guidance on Cybersecurity Disclosures?

The federal Administrative Procedure Act is both straightforward and general.  It defines a "rule" as "the whole or a part of an agencystatement of general or particular applicability and future effect designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe...

Was This Interim Final Rule More Final Than Interim?

In this post from July 2016, I took the Securities and Exchange Commission to task for  adding Item 16 to Form 10-K as an "Interim Final Rule". As I then explained, Interim Final Rules constitute an end-run on the notice and comment requirements of...

California Finders Rule May Soon Take Effect

Nearly one year ago, the California Department of Business Oversight proposed regulations to implement the provisions of AB 667 (Wagner). The bill, which was enacted in 2015 and took effect last year, created a new exemption from the broker-dealer...

The SEC's Flawed Changes To Exchange Act Forms

Title I of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (aka JOBS) Act amended the Securities Act and the Exchange Act to provide some regulatory relief to issuers that qualify as an "emerging growth company".  Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission

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