The North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") announced a coordinated multistate review program intended to ease regulatory compliance costs on small businesses attempting to raise capital under Regulation A ("Conditional Small Issues Exemption"). The new program allows Regulation A offerings to be filed in one place and distributed electronically to all states. Each filer will interact with a lead examiner to address any deficiencies, and states will have ten business days to conduct a review. If there are no deficiencies in the relevant application, no comments will be

The IRS on Friday, May 9, 2014, issued new proposed regulations providing a framework whereby taxpayers may more easily determine which assets qualify for favorable Real Estate Investment Trust ("REIT") status, including whether, and under what circumstances, certain energy-generating assets are qualifying assets. In order for an entity to qualify for favorable tax treatment as a REIT, at least 75 percent of its assets must be "real estate assets" and substantially all of its income must consist of rents from real property, interest, dividends, and other passive income. Under existing rules

The SEC approved MSRB's proposal to consolidate fair-pricing rules by amending MSRB Rule G-30 ("Prices and Commissions") and deleting MSRB Rule G-18 ("Execution of Transactions"). According to the MSRB, the amendments are intended to codify existing guidance regarding MSRB fair-pricing standards in MSRB Rules G-30, G-18 and G-17 ("Conduct of Municipal Securities and Municipal Advisory Activities") into a single rule under G-30. The rule changes will become effective on July 7, 2014. See: MSRB Notice 2014-11. Related news: MSRB Proposes Amendments to Existing Obligations of Municipal Securities

The MSRB published guidance regarding its new consolidated registration rule, MSRB Rule A-12, and new Form A-12. The guidance states that, for existing registrations, the MSRB will pre-populate information from their Forms RTRS and G-40 onto new Form A-12. Registered municipal advisors and dealers can assess the new Form A-12 via their Gateway account on the MSRB website. The MSRB prepared a new registration manual that contains screen shots of Form A-12 and guides municipal advisors and dealers through the registration process. Additionally, the guidance provides FAQs regarding the new

FINRA filed with the SEC a proposed rule change to amend FINRA Rule 7410 to permit members to route orders to two Reporting Members for a defined time period, provided that certain conditions are met, without losing the exception from the definition of "Reporting Member" in the Order Audit Trail System rules. Specifically, the proposed rules allow for routes to be ordered to one or two Reporting Member(s) for no more than a single year. See: Text of Proposed Rule Change. T o stay current on all SRO rule changes, please see the Cabinet's Regulatory Calendars(accessible to Cabinet subscribers