Individual states are taking a cue from regulators and taking steps toward assembling nationwide guidelines for selling 529 college savings plans, Dow Jones Newswires reports. The states efforts have already produced a draft set of guidelines that has been circulated to state treasurers, the SEC and the House Committee on Financial Services. The proposed guidelines, which are tentatively scheduled for release by December, are intended to replace varying state requirements for selling 529 plans with a contiguous series of rules.
Investor advocates recently testified before a Congressional subcommittee to protest difficulties created by the current patchwork of individual state guidelines. A task group the SEC set up in March to study 529 plans has already called for greater transparency of fees.
Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley recently sided with other lawmakers who suggested giving the states a chance to create uniform guidelines before asking the overtaxed SEC to step in and perform the task. A draft of the states' guidelines has been circulated to state treasurers, the SEC and the House Committee on Financial Services. The SEC also said in an internal review that federal securities laws do not give 529 participants "the same quality of information that other mutual-fund investors receive."
