SEC seeks OMB extension of municipal advisor registration data collection

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it is requesting an extension of the mandatory information collection for municipal advisors covered by Rules 15Ba1-1 through 15Ba1-8 and Forms MA, MA-I, MA-W and MA-NR. The extension, identified by OMB Control No. 3235-0681, binds any person or firm seeking registration as a municipal advisor and any registered municipal advisory firm that must file the required forms.

The collection requirement stems from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act's amendment of Section 15B of the Exchange Act, which made registration unlawful for municipal advisors who do not file the specified forms. The Commission adopted the underlying rules on September 20, 2013; they became effective on January 13, 2014, were temporarily stayed until July 1, 2014, and were amended on May 14, 2018 to remove certain personally identifiable information.

In its burden estimate, the Commission projects that approximately 15 new municipal advisory firms will submit initial Form MA applications each year for the next three years, for a total of 45 filings. The agency estimates an average of 3.5 hours to complete each Form MA, resulting in an aggregate annual reporting burden of about 53 hours.

The notice, published in the Federal Register on October 22, 2026 (Vol. 91, No. 203, pages 66758-66766, FR Doc No. 2026-21562), references a prior 60-day comment request issued on July 2, 2026 (91 FR 40622). Interested parties may submit comments during the prescribed comment period, and copies of the forms and instructions are available on the SEC website.

All forms and related instructions, including Form MA series data files, can be accessed at the SEC's public document repository. The Commission reiterates that private residential addresses reported on the forms will be excluded from publicly available versions.