Montana Suing the SEC, Claims Rule Change Interferes With State’s Rights

The State of Montana is in yet another legal tangle with a federal agency after new rules threaten to clamp down on state autonomy. Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance Monica Lindeen is currently involved in suing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over a rule change.

"Congress passed what is called "The Jobs Act" and in it, there were some finer points that needed to be defined by the SEC, and the way the SEC made those definitions bumped up against our ability to regulate securities," explained Office of State Auditor Communications Director Jenifer McKee.

McKee says that the new regulations interfere with the right's of the State of Montana.

"Montana along with Massachusetts sued over that, arguing that some of those definitions interfered with state's rights," McKee said. "It would exempt from state review certain kinds of securities offerings and that was the sticking point with us, that the feds would be doing it instead of us. We have a standard that is working very well in the state of Montana and that is the standard we want to keep."

The lawsuit was actually filed late in the day last Friday, May 22, but office closures over the long weekend and the lack of a press release from Lindeen's office kept the news form being widely known.