regulation of security markets (4)

Initially, security regulation in the united states was the province of state governments. Beginning in 1911, state blue sky laws were passed to prevent " speculative schemes which have no more basis than so many feet of blue sky. " While such statutes vary substantially from state to state, most outlaw fraud in security sales, require registration of brokers and dealers(and,in some cases, investment advisers) and the registration of nonexempt securities. Some order has been brought by the passage in many states of all or part of the Uniform Securities Acts proposed by the National Conference of Commissions on Uniform State laws in 1959.
Securities traded in interstate commerce, fall under the provisions of federal legislation (although some have been explicitly exempted under its terms). A considerable domain still comes under the exclusive jurisdiction of the states. Moreover, federal legislation only supplements state legislation, it does not supplant it. Some argue that the investor is overprotected as a result, while other suggest that regulatory agencies in general, and especially those that rely on " self-regulation" by powerful industry organizations, in fact protect the members of the regulated industry against competition, thereby damaging the interests of their customers rather than promoting them. Both positions undoubtedly contain elements of truth.