State Authority over Federal Covered Securities

National Securities Markets Improvement Act (NSMIA) defined certain securities as “federally covered securities.” Federally covered securities do not have to be registered at the state level. Instead, the issuers of these securities need to simply inform each state where they will be selling their securities and pay a filing fee to that state. This is called a notice filing, and it is meant to help avoid redundant filings for issuers and unneeded oversight for regulators.

The following securities are defined as federally covered securities, which also means they will not be registered on the state level:

• • Securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, or another national exchange
• • Debt securities or preferred s