As we celebrated Independence Day last week, last week also brought about the effective date for the Georgia Securities Act of 2008. On July 1, 2009, the new Act replaced the prior act set in place in 1973. The Act contains changes relating to both registration of securities and of broker-dealers and investment advisers. Jim Hamilton, over at Jim Hamilton's World of Securities Regulation provided an overview of certain of the changes. Also, folks over at the Georgia Securities Commissioner's office (the Secretary of State's office) also published an article on the new Act in the Georgia Bar Journal. That article is available online here.
Important to broker-dealers and representatives, the new Act provides limitation periods for the staff to act to approve or deny applications for registration. Pursuant to O.C.G.A. 10-5-35(d), an application for registration will become effective and approved 45 days after being filed, unless the application is denied, or there is an administrative order or proceeding in effect.
