As readers of this blog know, Washington State is proposing new rules that will require more fund managers to become registered investment advisers.  These rules were originally proposed in the second half of last year and, in response to preliminary comments, the Securities Division of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) proposed new rules for comment by May 21, 2013.  Quoting from the DFI’s Notice to Interested Parties dated March 27, 2013:

In August 2012, the Securities Division circulated an early draft of rule amendments to the interested parties list. We also conducted a small business economic impact survey. In response to comments received from interested persons, and in response to the results of the small business economic impact survey, the Securities Division made certain changes to the proposed rules compared to the earlier draft…

The Securities Law Committee of the Business Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association, representing attorneys practicing in this area throughout Washington State, submitted formal comments to the DFI’s request.  Their comment letter is included below.  Full disclosure, I’m not a member of the Committee, but they asked me to help them in drafting their formal response with respect to how the rules relate to private fund advisers.

This letter may be of interest in summarizing the concerns of many practitioners with the DFI’s proposed rules.

Investment Adviser Comment Letter 17 May 2013