I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2550 

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require the registration 

of municipal financial advisers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2009 

Mr. DRIEHAUS (for himself, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. BACA, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. ANDREWS, and Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require 

the registration of municipal financial advisers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Municipal Advisers 

5 Regulation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MUNICIPAL FINANCIAL ADVISER REGISTRATION 

2 REQUIREMENT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Securities Exchange Act of 

4 1934 is amended by inserting after section 15E (15 

5 U.S.C. 78o–7) the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 15F. MUNICIPAL FINANCIAL ADVISER REGISTRATION 

7 REQUIREMENT. 

8 ‘‘(a)(1) It shall be unlawful for any person that is 

9 either a person other than a natural person or a natural 

10 person not associated with a municipal financial adviser 

11 which is a person other than a natural person to make 

12 use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of inter13 state commerce to act as a municipal financial adviser un14 less such person is registered as a municipal financial ad15 viser in accordance with subsection (b). 

16 ‘‘(2) The Commission, by rule or order, as it deems 

17 consistent with the public interest and the protection of 

18 investors, may conditionally or unconditionally exempt 

19 from paragraph (1) of this section any municipal financial 

20 adviser or class of municipal financial advisers specified 

21 in such rule or order. 

22 ‘‘(b)(1) A municipal financial adviser may be reg23 istered by filing with the Commission an application for 

24 registration in such form and containing such information 

25 and documents concerning such municipal financial ad26 viser and any persons associated with such municipal fiVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:09 May 27, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2550.IH H2550

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1 nancial adviser as the Commission, by rule, may prescribe 

2 as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for 

3 the protection of investors. Within 45 days of the date of 

4 the filing of such application (or within such longer period 

5 as to which the applicant consents), the Commission 

6 shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) by order grant registration, or 

8 ‘‘(B) institute proceedings to determine whether 

9 registration should be denied. Such proceedings shall 

10 include notice of the grounds for denial under con11 sideration and opportunity for hearing and shall be 

12 concluded within 120 days of the date of the filing 

13 of the application for registration. At the conclusion 

14 of such proceedings, the Commission, by order, shall 

15 grant or deny such registration. The Commission 

16 may extend the time for conclusion of such pro17 ceedings for up to 90 days if it finds good cause for 

18 such extension and publishes its reasons for so find19 ing or for such longer period as to which the appli20 cant consents. 

21 The Commission shall grant such registration if the 

22 Commission finds that the requirements of this sec23 tion are satisfied. The Commission shall deny such 

24 registration if it does not make such a finding or if 

25 it finds that if the applicant were so registered, its 


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1 registration would be subject to suspension or rev2 ocation under paragraph (4). 

3 ‘‘(2) An application for registration of a municipal 

4 financial adviser to be formed or organized may be made 

5 by a municipal financial adviser to which the municipal 

6 financial adviser to be formed or organized is to be the 

7 successor. Such application, in such form as the Commis8 sion, by rule, may prescribe, shall contain such informa9 tion and documents concerning the applicant, the suc10 cessor, and any persons associated with the applicant or 

11 the successor, as the Commission, by rule, may prescribe 

12 as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for 

13 the protection of investors. The grant or denial of registra14 tion to such an applicant shall be in accordance with the 

15 procedures set forth in paragraph (1) of this subsection. 

16 If the Commission grants such registration, the registra17 tion shall terminate on the 45th day after the effective 

18 date thereof, unless prior thereto the successor shall, in 

19 accordance with such rules and regulations as the Com20 mission may prescribe, adopt the application for registra21 tion as its own. 

22 ‘‘(3) Any provision of this title (other than section 

23 5 and subsection (a) of this section) which prohibits any 

24 act, practice, or course of business if the mails or any 

25 means or instrumentality of interstate commerce is used 


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1 in connection therewith shall also prohibit any such act, 

2 practice, or course of business by any registered municipal 

3 financial adviser or any person acting on behalf of such 

4 a municipal financial adviser, irrespective of any use of 

5 the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate 

6 commerce in connection therewith. 

7 ‘‘(4) The Commission, by order, shall censure, place 

8 limitations on the activities, functions, or operations of, 

9 suspend for a period not exceeding 12 months, or revoke 

10 the registration of any municipal financial adviser if it 

11 finds, on the record after notice and opportunity for hear12 ing, that such censure, placing of limitations, suspension, 

13 or revocation is in the public interest and that such munic14 ipal financial adviser, whether prior or subsequent to be15 coming such, or any person associated with such municipal 

16 financial adviser, whether prior or subsequent to becoming 

17 so associated— 

18 ‘‘(A) has willfully made or caused to be made 

19 in any application for registration or report required 

20 to be filed with the Commission or with any other 

21 appropriate regulatory agency under this title, or in 

22 any proceeding before the Commission with respect 

23 to registration, any statement which was at the time 

24 and in the light of the circumstances under which it 

25 was made false or misleading with respect to any 


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1 material fact, or has omitted to state in any such 

2 application or report any material fact which is re3 quired to be stated therein; 

4 ‘‘(B) has been convicted within 10 years pre5 ceding the filing of any application for registration 

6 or at any time thereafter of any felony or mis7 demeanor or of a substantially equivalent crime by 

8 a foreign court of competent jurisdiction which the 

9 Commission finds— 

10 ‘‘(i) involves the purchase or sale of any 

11 security, the taking of a false oath, the making 

12 of a false report, bribery, perjury, burglary, any 

13 substantially equivalent activity however de14 nominated by the laws of the relevant foreign 

15 government, or conspiracy to commit any such 

16 offense; 

17 ‘‘(ii) arises out of the conduct of the busi18 ness of a municipal financial adviser, broker, 

19 dealer, municipal securities dealer, government 

20 securities broker, government securities dealer, 

21 investment adviser, bank, insurance company, 

22 fiduciary, transfer agent, nationally recognized 

23 statistical rating organization, foreign person 

24 performing a function substantially equivalent 

25 to any of the above, or entity or person required 


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1 to be registered under the Commodity Ex2 change Act (7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) or any substan3 tially equivalent foreign statute or regulation; 

4 ‘‘(iii) involves the larceny, theft, robbery, 

5 extortion, forgery, counterfeiting, fraudulent 

6 concealment, embezzlement, fraudulent conver7 sion, or misappropriation of funds, or securities, 

8 or substantially equivalent activity however de9 nominated by the laws of the relevant foreign 

10 government; or 

11 ‘‘(iv) involves the violation of section 152, 

12 1341, 1342, or 1343 or chapter 25 or 47 of 

13 title 18, or a violation of a substantially equiva14 lent foreign statute; 

15 ‘‘(C) is permanently or temporarily enjoined by 

16 order, judgment, or decree of any court of competent 

17 jurisdiction from acting as a municipal financial ad18 viser, investment adviser, underwriter, broker, deal19 er, municipal securities dealer, government securities 

20 broker, government securities dealer, transfer agent, 

21 nationally recognized statistical rating organization, 

22 foreign person performing a function substantially 

23 equivalent to any of the above, or entity or person 

24 required to be registered under the Commodity Ex25 change Act or any substantially equivalent foreign 


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1 statute or regulation, or as an affiliated person or 

2 employee of any investment company, bank, insur3 ance company, foreign entity substantially equivalent 

4 to any of the above, or entity or person required to 

5 be registered under the Commodity Exchange Act or 

6 any substantially equivalent foreign statute or regu7 lation or from engaging in or continuing any con8 duct or practice in connection with any such activity, 

9 or in connection with the purchase or sale of any se10 curity; 

11 ‘‘(D) has willfully violated any provision of the 

12 Securities Act of 1933, the Investment Advisers Act 

13 of 1940, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the 

14 Commodity Exchange Act, this title, the rules or 

15 regulations under any of such statutes, or is unable 

16 to comply with any such provision; 

17 ‘‘(E) has willfully aided, abetted, counseled, 

18 commanded, induced, or procured the violation by 

19 any other person of any provision of the Securities 

20 Act of 1933, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, 

21 the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Com22 modity Exchange Act, this title, the rules or regula23 tions under any of such statutes, or has failed rea24 sonably to supervise, with a view to preventing viola25 tions of the provisions of such statutes, rules, and 


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1 regulations, another person who commits such a vio2 lation, if such other person is subject to his super3 vision. For the purposes of this subparagraph, no 

4 person shall be deemed to have failed reasonably to 

5 supervise any other person, if— 

6 ‘‘(i) there have been established proce7 dures, and a system for applying such proce8 dures, which would reasonably be expected to 

9 prevent and detect, insofar as practicable, any 

10 such violation by such other person, and 

11 ‘‘(ii) such person has reasonably dis12 charged the duties and obligations incumbent 

13 upon him by reason of such procedures and sys14 tem without reasonable cause to believe that 

15 such procedures and system were not being 

16 complied with; 

17 ‘‘(F) is subject to any order of the Commission 

18 barring or suspending the right of the person to be 

19 associated with a municipal financial adviser; 

20 ‘‘(G) has been found by a foreign financial reg21 ulatory authority to have— 

22 ‘‘(i) made or caused to be made in any ap23 plication for registration or report required to 

24 be filed with a foreign financial regulatory au25 thority, or in any proceeding before a foreign fiVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:09 May 27, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2550.IH H2550

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1 nancial regulatory authority with respect to reg2 istration, any statement that was at the time 

3 and in the light of the circumstances under 

4 which it was made false or misleading with re5 spect to any material fact, or has omitted to 

6 state in any application or report to the foreign 

7 financial regulatory authority any material fact 

8 that is required to be stated therein; 

9 ‘‘(ii) violated any foreign statute or regula10 tion regarding transactions in securities, or con11 tracts of sale of a commodity for future deliv12 ery, traded on or subject to the rules of a con13 tract market or any board of trade; 

14 ‘‘(iii) aided, abetted, counseled, com15 manded, induced, or procured the violation by 

16 any person of any provision of any statutory 

17 provisions enacted by a foreign government, or 

18 rules or regulations thereunder, empowering a 

19 foreign financial regulatory authority regarding 

20 transactions in securities, or contracts of sale of 

21 a commodity for future delivery, traded on or 

22 subject to the rules of a contract market or any 

23 board of trade, or has been found, by a foreign 

24 financial regulatory authority, to have failed 

25 reasonably to supervise, with a view to preVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:09 May 27, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2550.IH H2550

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1 venting violations of such statutory provisions, 

2 rules, and regulations, another person who com3 mits such a violation, if such other person is 

4 subject to his supervision; or 

5 ‘‘(H) is subject to any final order of a State se6 curities commission (or any agency or officer per7 forming like functions), State authority that super8 vises or examines banks, savings associations, or 

9 credit unions, State insurance commission (or any 

10 agency or office performing like functions), an ap11 propriate Federal banking agency (as defined in sec12 tion 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 

13 U.S.C. 1813(q))), or the National Credit Union Ad14 ministration, that— 

15 ‘‘(i) bars such person from association with 

16 an entity regulated by such commission, author17 ity, agency, or officer, or from engaging in the 

18 business of securities, insurance, banking, sav19 ings association activities, or credit union activi20 ties; or 

21 ‘‘(ii) constitutes a final order based on vio22 lations of any laws or regulations that prohibit 

23 fraudulent, manipulative, or deceptive conduct. 

24 ‘‘(5) Pending final determination whether any reg25 istration under this subsection shall be revoked, the ComVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:09 May 27, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2550.IH H2550

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1 mission, by order, may suspend such registration, if such 

2 suspension appears to the Commission, after notice and 

3 opportunity for hearing, to be necessary or appropriate in 

4 the public interest or for the protection of investors. Any 

5 registered municipal financial adviser may, upon such 

6 terms and conditions as the Commission deems necessary 

7 or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection 

8 of investors, withdraw from registration by filing a written 

9 notice of withdrawal with the Commission. If the Commis10 sion finds that any registered municipal financial adviser 

11 is no longer in existence or has ceased to do business as 

12 a municipal financial adviser, the Commission, by order, 

13 shall cancel the registration of such municipal financial 

14 adviser. 

15 ‘‘(6)(A) With respect to any person who is associated, 

16 who is seeking to become associated, or, at the time of 

17 the alleged misconduct, who was associated or was seeking 

18 to become associated with a municipal financial adviser, 

19 the Commission, by order, shall censure, place limitations 

20 on the activities or functions of such person, or suspend 

21 for a period not exceeding 12 months, or bar such person 

22 from being associated with a municipal financial adviser, 

23 if the Commission finds, on the record after notice and 

24 opportunity for a hearing, that such censure, placing of 


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1 limitations, suspension, or bar is in the public interest and 

2 that such person— 

3 ‘‘(i) has committed or omitted any act, or is 

4 subject to an order or finding, enumerated in sub5 paragraph (A), (D), or (E) of paragraph (4) of this 

6 subsection; 

7 ‘‘(ii) has been convicted of any offense specified 

8 in subparagraph (B) of such paragraph (4) within 

9 10 years of the commencement of the proceedings 

10 under this paragraph; or 

11 ‘‘(iii) is enjoined from any action, conduct, or 

12 practice specified in subparagraph (C) of such para13 graph (4). 

14 ‘‘(B) It shall be unlawful— 

15 ‘‘(i) for any person as to whom an order under 

16 subparagraph (A) is in effect, without the consent of 

17 the Commission, willfully to become, or to be, associ18 ated with a municipal financial adviser in contraven19 tion of such order; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) for any municipal financial adviser to per21 mit such a person, without the consent of the Com22 mission, to become or remain, a person associated 

23 with the municipal financial adviser in contravention 

24 of such order, if such municipal financial adviser 


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1 knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should 

2 have known, of such order. 

3 ‘‘(7) No registered municipal financial adviser shall 

4 act as such unless it meets such standards of operational 

5 capability and such municipal financial adviser and all 

6 natural persons associated with such municipal financial 

7 adviser meet such standards of training, experience, com8 petence, and such other qualifications as the Commission 

9 finds necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for 

10 the protection of investors. The Commission shall establish 

11 such standards by rules and regulations, which may— 

12 ‘‘(A) specify that all or any portion of such 

13 standards shall be applicable to any class of munic14 ipal financial advisers and persons associated with 

15 municipal financial advisers; 

16 ‘‘(B) require persons in any such class to pass 

17 tests prescribed in accordance with such rules and 

18 regulations, which tests shall, with respect to any 

19 class of partners, officers, or supervisory employees 

20 (which latter term may be defined by the Commis21 sion’s rules and regulations) engaged in the manage22 ment of the municipal financial adviser, include 

23 questions relating to bookkeeping, accounting, super24 vision of employees, maintenance of records, and 

25 other appropriate matters; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) provide that persons in any such class 

2 other than municipal financial advisers and partners, 

3 officers, and supervisory employees of municipal fi4 nancial advisers, may be qualified solely on the basis 

5 of compliance with such standards of training and 

6 such other qualifications as the Commission finds 

7 appropriate. 

8 The Commission, by rule, may prescribe reasonable fees 

9 and charges to defray its costs in carrying out this para10 graph, including, but not limited to, fees for any test ad11 ministered by it or under its direction. 

12 ‘‘(c)(1)(A) No municipal financial adviser shall make 

13 use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of inter14 state commerce in connection with which such municipal 

15 financial adviser engages in any fraudulent, deceptive, or 

16 manipulative act or practice or violates such rules and reg17 ulations regarding conflicts of interest or fair practices, 

18 including but not limited to rules and regulations related 

19 to political contributions, as the Commission shall pre20 scribe in the public interest or for the protection of inves21 tors or to maintain fair and orderly markets. 

22 ‘‘(B) The Commission shall, for the purposes of this 

23 paragraph as the Commission finds necessary or appro24 priate in the public interest or for the protection of inves25 tors, by rules and regulations define, and prescribe means 


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1 reasonably designed to prevent, such acts and practices 

2 as are fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative. 

3 ‘‘(2) If the Commission finds, after notice and oppor4 tunity for a hearing, that any person subject to the provi5 sions of this section or any rule or regulation thereunder 

6 has failed to comply with any such provision, rule, or regu7 lation in any material respect, the Commission may pub8 lish its findings and issue an order requiring such person, 

9 and any person who was a cause of the failure to comply 

10 due to an act or omission the person knew or should have 

11 known would contribute to the failure to comply, to com12 ply, or to take steps to effect compliance, with such provi13 sion or such rule or regulation thereunder upon such 

14 terms and conditions and within such time as the Commis15 sion may specify in such order. 

16 ‘‘(d) Every registered municipal financial adviser 

17 shall establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and 

18 procedures reasonably designed, taking into consideration 

19 the nature of such municipal financial adviser’s business, 

20 to prevent the misuse in violation of this title, or the rules 

21 or regulations thereunder, of material, nonpublic informa22 tion by such municipal financial adviser or any person as23 sociated with such municipal financial adviser. The Com24 mission, as it deems necessary or appropriate in the public 

25 interest or for the protection of investors, shall adopt rules 


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1 or regulations to require specific policies or procedures 

2 reasonably designed to prevent misuse in violation of this 

3 title (or the rules or regulations thereunder) of material, 

4 nonpublic information. 

5 ‘‘(e) A municipal financial adviser and any person as6 sociated with such municipal financial adviser shall be 

7 deemed to have a fiduciary duty to any municipal securi8 ties issuer for whom such municipal financial adviser acts 

9 as a municipal financial adviser. A municipal financial ad10 viser may not engage in any act, practice, or course of 

11 business which is not consistent with a municipal financial 

12 adviser’s fiduciary duty. The Commission shall, for the 

13 purposes of this paragraph, by rules and regulations de14 fine, and prescribe means reasonably designed to prevent, 

15 such acts, practices, and courses of business as are not 

16 consistent with a municipal financial adviser’s fiduciary 

17 duty to its clients.’’. 

18 (b) DEFINITION.—Section 3(a) of the Securities Ex19 change Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)) is amended by 

20 adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(65) MUNICIPAL FINANCIAL ADVISER.— 

22 ‘‘(A) The term ‘municipal financial adviser’ 

23 means a person who, for compensation, engages 

24 in the business of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) providing advice to a municipal 

2 securities issuer with respect to— 

3 ‘‘(I) the issuance or proposed 

4 issuance of securities, including any 

5 remarketing of municipal securities 

6 directly or indirectly by or on behalf 

7 of a municipal securities issuer; 

8 ‘‘(II) the investment of proceeds 

9 from securities issued by such munic10 ipal securities issuer; 

11 ‘‘(III) the hedging of any risks 

12 associated with subclauses (I) or (II), 

13 including advice as to swap agree14 ments (as defined in section 206A of 

15 the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act regard16 less of whether the counterparties 

17 constitute eligible contract partici18 pants); or 

19 ‘‘(IV) preparation of disclosure 

20 documents in connection with the 

21 issuance, proposed issuance, or pre22 vious issuance of securities issued by 

23 a municipal securities issuer, includ24 ing, without limitation, official state25 ments and documents prepared in 


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1 connection with a written agreement 

2 or contract for the benefit of holders 

3 of such securities described in section 

4 240.15c2–12 of title 17, Code of Fed5 eral Regulations; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) assisting a municipal securities 

7 issuer in selecting or negotiating guaran8 teed investment contracts or other invest9 ment products; or 

10 ‘‘(iii) assisting any municipal securi11 ties issuer in the primary offering of secu12 rities not involving a public offering. 

13 ‘‘(B) Such term does not include— 

14 ‘‘(i) an attorney, if the attorney is of15 fering advice or providing services that are 

16 of a traditional legal nature; 

17 ‘‘(ii) a nationally recognized statistical 

18 rating organization to the extent it is in19 volved in the process of developing credit 

20 ratings; 

21 ‘‘(iii) a registered broker-dealer when 

22 acting as an underwriter, as such term is 

23 defined in section 2(a)(11) of the Securi24 ties Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. section 

25 77b(a)(11)); or 


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1 ‘‘(iv) a State or any political subdivi2 sion thereof. 

3 ‘‘(66) MUNICIPAL SECURITIES ISSUER.—The 

4 term ‘municipal securities issuer’ means— 

5 ‘‘(A) any entity that has the ability to 

6 issue a security the interest on which is exclud7 able from gross income under section 103 of the 

8 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the regula9 tions thereunder; or 

10 ‘‘(B) any person who receives the proceeds 

11 generated from the issuance of municipal secu12 rities. 

13 ‘‘(67) PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH A MUNICIPAL

14 FINANCIAL ADVISER; ASSOCIATED PERSON OF A MU15 NICIPAL FINANCIAL ADVISER.—The term ‘person as16 sociated with a municipal financial adviser’ or ‘asso17 ciated person of a municipal financial adviser’ means 

18 any partner, officer, director, or branch manager of 

19 such municipal financial adviser (or any person oc20 cupying a similar status or performing similar func21 tions), any person directly or indirectly controlling, 

22 controlled by, or under common control with such 

23 municipal financial adviser, or any employee of such 

24 municipal financial adviser, except that any person 

25 associated with a municipal financial adviser whose 


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1 functions are solely clerical or ministerial shall not 

2 be included in the meaning of such term for pur3 poses of section 15F(b) (other than paragraph (6) 

4 thereof).’’. 

5 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

6 (a) SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 .—The Se7 curities Exchange Act of 1934 is amended— 

8 (1) in section 15(b)(4)(B)(ii) (15 U.S.C. 

9 78o(b)(4)(B)(ii)), by inserting ‘‘municipal finance 

10 adviser,’’ after ‘‘nationally recognized statistical rat11 ing organization,’’; 

12 (2) in section 15(b)(4)(C) (15 U.S.C. 

13 78o(b)(4)(C)), by inserting ‘‘municipal finance ad14 viser,’’ after ‘‘nationally recognized statistical rating 

15 organization,’’; and 

16 (3) in section 17(a)(1) (15 U.S.C. 78q(a)(1)), 

17 by inserting ‘‘registered municipal financial adviser,’’ 

18 after ‘‘nationally recognized statistical rating organi19 zation,’’. 

20 (b) INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940.—The In21 vestment Company Act of 1940 is amended— 

22 (1) in section 2(a) (15 U.S.C. 80a–2(a)), by in23 serting the following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(54) The term ‘municipal finance adviser’ has 

2 the same meaning as in section 3 of the Securities 

3 Exchange Act of 1934.’’; 

4 (2) in section 9(a)(1) (15 U.S.C. 80a–9(a)(1), 

5 by inserting ‘‘municipal finance adviser,’’ after 

6 ‘‘credit rating agency,’’; and 

7 (3) in section 9(a)(2) (15 U.S.C. 80a–9(a)(2), 

8 by inserting ‘‘municipal finance adviser,’’ after 

9 ‘‘credit rating agency,’’. 

10 (c) INVESTMENT ADVISERS ACT OF 1940.—The In11 vestment Advisers Act of 1940 is amended— 

12 (1) in section 202(a) (15 U.S.C. 80b–2(a)), by 

13 inserting the following new paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(29) The term ‘municipal finance adviser’ has 

15 the same meaning as in Section 3 of the Securities 

16 Exchange Act of 1934.’’; 

17 (2) in section 203(e)(2)(B) (15 U.S.C. 80b– 

18 3(e)(2)(B)), by inserting ‘‘municipal finance ad19 viser,’’ after ‘‘credit rating agency,’’; and 

20 (3) in section 203(e)(4) (15 U.S.C. 80b– 

21 3(e)(4)) is amended by inserting ‘‘municipal finance 

22 adviser,’’ after ‘‘credit rating agency,’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATES. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by this 

3 Act shall take effect 30 days after the date of the enact4 ment of this Act. 

5 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE AND REQUIREMENTS FOR

6 REGULATIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Se7 curities and Exchange Commission shall, within 120 days 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, publish for 

9 notice and public comment such regulations as are initially 

10 required to implement this Act, and shall take final action 

11 with respect to such regulations not later than 270 days 

12 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

13 (c) REGISTRATION DATE.—No person may continue 

14 to act as a municipal financial adviser, as such term is 

15 defined in section 3(a)(65) of the Securities Exchange Act 

16 of 1934, after 30 days after the date the regulations de17 scribed in subsection (b) become effective unless such per18 son has been registered as required by the amendment 

19 made by section 2 of this Act. 

Æ 


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