Securities Law

Federal securities laws preserve states’ authority to regulate securities, meaning that securities activities may be subject to both federal and state laws. Securities laws can be found in every state.

State securities laws are popularly referred to as “blue sky laws,” a term that originated in the Supreme Court opinion, Hall v. Geiger-Jones, 242 U.S. 539 (1917) , which describes the purpose of state securities laws as being the prevention of “speculative schemes which have no more basis than so many feet of blue sky.”

In 1956 the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws created the Uniform Securities Act (ULA)  to make the states’ securities laws more uniform and modeled it after the Securities and Exchange Act. In some states, either an administrative agency or the state’s attorney general is responsible for the administration and enforcement of securities laws. Either the agency or the attorney general will promulgate rules, policy statements, orders, attorney general opinions, or a combination of these to carry out its mission.

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