The Texas State Securities Board votes Sept. 17 on whether to publish rule changes that would narrow what the brokers and investment advisers it licenses have to tell the state about their own criminal records.
The rules now give a registered dealer, agent or adviser 30 days to report any felony and any misdemeanor that bears on the job. The board’s criminal background rule lists four kinds that qualify: fraud or theft, securities violations, consumer protection violations, and assault. Under the amendment described on the agenda, the 30-day duty would cover the first three but not assault, and a new provision would instead require an assault to be disclosed when the agency asks for it. The assault category is the newest of the four, added in March 2025.
The Sept. 17 vote is only to publish. If the board approves, the text runs in the Texas Register and the public gets 30 days to comment before the board takes it up again. The proposed language is not public yet, so how far the change reaches cannot be judged from the agenda alone. An assault conviction would remain a ground on which the state can deny, suspend or revoke a registration either way.
The agency it governs is small and busy. It licensed 508,855 dealers, agents and advisers in fiscal 2025, about 86 percent of them based outside Texas, on 85 filled positions and a budget under $10 million, and returned $170 million to general revenue. It brought 550 enforcement actions, opened 451 investigations, issued 11 emergency orders and took in 1,664 reports of suspected financial exploitation of vulnerable adults. Most of its recent emergency orders have targeted cryptocurrency schemes.
Also on the agenda: the internal audit for the year just ended, a budget report, an operations update and a legislative briefing ahead of the session that opens in January. Board members will approve minutes of the June meeting at which they named Jeramy Heintz securities commissioner, after tabling the choice in April. Two of the five seats are held by members whose terms ended in February 2025; state law lets them serve until successors qualify, and the Dispatch found no reappointment announcement for either.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 10 a.m. CT Thursday, September 17, 2026. The notice, TRD 2026005294, was filed September 3 at 8:41 a.m. The board set this date itself a year ago.
- Where
- Room 320, Thomas Jefferson Rusk State Office Building, 208 E. 10th St., Austin.
- Governing body & chair
- Texas State Securities Board — five unpaid members appointed by the governor to six-year terms. E. Wally Kinney is chairman. No seat is vacant; two members are serving past the end of their terms.
- Format
- Regular quarterly meeting, six agenda items. Comment on the proposed rules happens later, in writing, once the text is published.
- Live video
- None found. The board does not appear to stream or archive video; approved minutes are the public record.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · board meetings page
Board members
- E. Wally Kinney — chairman; Comfort; retired banker; on the board since 2008.
- Robert Belt — Houston; certified public accountant; partner at Crowe.
- David Montgomery — Houston; founder, Montgomery Law Firm.
- Ejike Okpa — Dallas; principal, The Okpa Co.
- Melissa Tyroch — Belton; attorney, partner at Tyroch Boyd.
Roster from the agency’s own board page, cross-checked against the minutes of the April 9, 2026 meeting, at which all five were present. Kinney’s and Tyroch’s terms ended February 1, 2025, and the agency’s page marks both as holdovers. The securities commissioner is chosen by the board, not the governor. Switchboard: (512) 305-8300.