Montana will become the next state that has legalized intrastate crowdfunding. The bill becomes law on July 1st and is designed to ease capital access for entrepreneurs in need of capital in the Big Sky state.
Speaking with the ABC affiliate, Jesse Laslovich, Chief Legal Counsel in the Office of Montana State Auditor commented on the new law;
“The importance of that is for small businesses, large businesses that are seeking to raise capital they can do so in a way that doesn’t require registration with our office.”
There are significant limitations on the Montana state crowdfunding rules. No individual may contribute more than $10,000 and the total amount of the raise may not exceed $1 million without triggering a registration.
Montana was recently recognized for being a state that was entrepreneur friendly. For the 3rd year in a row, the Kauffman Foundation has recognized Montana as being a hotbed of creativity. According to the report, for every 100,000 residents there were 540 new entrepreneurs for any given month , far above the national average.
The bill was spearheaded in part by Montana Securities Commissioner Monica Lindeen earlier this year. Ledeen is currently part of a lawsuit filed against the SEC for enacted rules on Title IV of the JOBS Act referred to as Regulation A+. This modified exemption is another variant of crowdfunding that removes state review for certain private placements. Lindeen has joined with Massachusetts, another state that enacted intrastate crowdfunding rules, in challenging the SEC on Reg A+.
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