A. The term "security" or "securities" shall include any limited partner interest in a limited partnership, share, stock, treasury stock, stock certificate under a voting trust agreement, collateral trust certificate, equipment trust certificate, preorganization certificate or receipt, subscription or reorganization certificate, note, bond, debenture, mortgage certificate or other evidence of indebtedness, any form of commercial paper, certificate in or under a profit sharing or participation agreement, certificate or any instrument representing any interest in or under an oil, gas or mining lease, fee or title, or any certificate or instrument representing or secured by an interest in any or all of the capital, property, assets, profits or earnings of any company, investment contract, or any other instrument commonly known as a security, whether similar to those herein referred to or not. The term applies regardless of whether the "security" or "securities" are evidenced by a written instrument. Provided, however, that this definition shall not apply to any insurance policy, endowment policy, annuity contract, optional annuity contract, or any contract or agreement in relation to and in consequence of any such policy or contract, issued by an insurance company subject to the supervision or control of the Texas Department of Insurance when the form of such policy or contract has been duly filed with the Department as now or hereafter required by law.

581-4 B. The terms "person" and "company" shall include a corporation, person, joint stock company, partnership, limited partnership, association, company, firm, syndicate, trust, incorporated or unincorporated, heretofore or hereafter formed under the laws of this or any other state, country, sovereignty or political subdivision thereof, and shall include a government, or a political subdivision or agency thereof. As used herein, the term "trust" shall be deemed to include a common law trust, but shall not include a trust created or appointed under or by virtue of a last will and testament or by a court of law or equity.

C. The term "dealer" shall include every person or company other than an agent, who engages in this state, either for all or part of his or its time, directly or through an agent, in selling, offering for sale or delivery or soliciting subscriptions to or orders for, or undertaking to dispose of, or to invite offers for any security or securities and every person or company who deals in any other manner in any security or securities within this state. Any issuer other than a registered dealer of a security or securities, who, directly or through any person or company, other than a registered dealer, offers for sale, sells or makes sales of its own security or securities shall be deemed a dealer and shall be required to comply with the provisions hereof; provided, however, this section or provision shall not apply to such issuer when such security or securities are offered for sale or sold either to a registered dealer or only by or through a registered dealer acting as fiscal agent for the issuer; and provided further, this section or provision shall not apply to such issuer if the transaction is within the exemptions contained in the provisions of Section 5 of this Act.

D. The term "agent" shall include every person or company employed or appointed or authorized by a dealer to sell, offer for sale or delivery, or solicit subscriptions to or orders for, or deal in any other manner, in securities within this state, whether by direct act or through subagents; provided, that the officers of a corporation or partners of a partnership shall not be deemed agents solely because of their status as officers or partners, where such corporation or partnership is registered as a dealer hereunder.

E. The terms "sale" or "offer for sale" or "sell" shall include every disposition, or attempt to dispose of a security for value. The term "sale" means and includes contracts and agreements whereby securities are sold, traded or exchanged for money, property or other things of value, or any transfer or agreement to transfer, in trust or otherwise. Any security given or delivered with or as a bonus on account of any purchase of securities or other thing of value, shall be conclusively presumed to constitute a part of the subject of such purchase and to have been sold for value. The term "sell" means any act by which a sale is made, and the term "sale" or "offer for sale" shall include a subscription, an option for sale, a solicitation of sale, a solicitation of an offer to buy, an attempt to sell, or an offer to sell, directly or by an agent, by a circular, letter, or advertisement or otherwise, including the deposit in a United States Post Office or mail box or in any manner in the United States mails within this State of a letter, circular or other advertising matter. Nothing herein shall limit or diminish the full meaning of the terms "sale," "sell" or "offer for sale" as used by or accepted in courts of law or equity. The sale of a security under conditions which entitle the purchaser or subsequent holder to exchange the same for, or to purchase some other security, shall not be deemed a sale or offer for sale of such other security; but no exchange for or sale of such other security shall ever be made unless and until the sale thereof shall have been first authorized in Texas under this Act, if not exempt hereunder, or by other provisions of law.

F. The terms "fraud" or "fraudulent practice" shall include any misrepresentations, in any manner, of a relevant fact; any promise or representation or predication as to the future not made honestly and in good faith, or an intentional failure to disclose a material fact; the gaining, directly or indirectly, through the sale of any security, of an underwriting or promotion fee or profit, selling or managing commission or profit, so gross or exorbitant as to be unconscionable; any scheme, device or other artifice to obtain such profit, fee or commission; provided, that nothing herein shall limit or diminish the full meaning of the terms "fraud," "fraudulent," and "fraudulent practice" as applied or accepted in courts of law or equity.

G. "Issuer" shall mean and include every company or person who proposes to issue, has issued, or shall hereafter issue any security.

H. "Broker" shall mean dealer as herein defined.

I. "Mortgage" shall be deemed to include a deed of trust to secure a debt.

J. If the sense requires it, words in the present tense include the future tense, in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter gender, in the singular number include the plural number, and in the plural number include the singular number; "and" may be read "or" and "or" may be read "and".

K. "No par value" or "non-par" as applied to shares of stock or other securities shall mean that such shares of stock or other securities are without a given or specified par value. Whenever any classification or computation in this Act mentioned is based upon "par value" as applied to shares of stock or other securities of no par value, the amount for which such securities are sold or offered for sale to the public shall be used as a basis of such classification or computation.

L. The term "include" when used in a definition contained in this Act shall not be deemed to exclude other things or persons otherwise within the meaning of the term defined.

M. "Registered dealer" shall mean a dealer as hereinabove defined who has been duly registered by the Commissioner as in Section 15 of this Act provided.

N. "Investment adviser" includes a person who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising another, either directly or through publications or writings, with respect to the value of securities or to the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling securities or a person who, for compensation and as part of a regular business, issues or adopts analyses or a report concerning securities, as may be further defined by Board rule. The term does not include:

(1) a bank or a bank holding company, as defined by the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. Section 1841 et seq.), as amended, that is not an investment company;

(2) a lawyer, accountant, engineer, teacher, or geologist whose performance of the services is solely incidental to the practice of the person's profession;

(3) a dealer or agent who receives no special compensation for those services and whose performance of those services is solely incidental to transacting business as a dealer or agent;

(4) the publisher of a bona fide newspaper, news magazine, or business or financial publication of general and regular circulation; or

(5) a person whose advice, analyses, or report does not concern a security other than a security that is:

(A) a direct obligation of or an obligation the principal or interest of which is guaranteed by the United States government; or

(B) issued or guaranteed by a corporation in which the United States has a direct or indirect interest and designated by the United States Secretary of the Treasury under Section 3(a)(12), Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. Section 78c(a)(12)), as amended, as an exempt security for purposes of that Act.

O. "Federal covered investment adviser" means an investment adviser who is registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. Section 80b-1 et seq.), as amended.

P. "Investment adviser representative" or "representative of an investment adviser" includes each person or company who, for compensation, is employed, appointed, or authorized by an investment adviser to solicit clients for the investment adviser or who, on behalf of an investment adviser, provides investment advice, directly or through subagents, as defined by Board rule, to the investment adviser's clients. The term does not include a partner of a partnership or an officer of a corporation or other entity that is registered as an investment adviser under this Act solely because of the person's status as an officer or partner of that entity.

Q. "Registered investment adviser" means an investment adviser who has been issued a registration certificate by the Commissioner under Section 15 of this Act.

Acts 1957, 55th Leg., p. 575, ch. 269, Sec. 4.

Subsec. A amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 733, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 917, Sec. 3, eff. Jan. 1, 1994; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 228, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 108, Sec. 1, eff. May 20, 2003.

Subsec. B amended by Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., p. 1085, ch. 235, Sec. 1, eff. May 17, 1971; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1091, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Subsec. C amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 733, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1091, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Subsec. D amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 733, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1091, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Subsec. E amended by Acts 1979, 66th Leg., p. 348, ch. 160, Sec. 1, eff. May 15, 1979; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1091, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Subsec. N added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1091, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Subsec. O added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1091, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Subsec. P added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1091, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Subsec. Q added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1091, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Text of article effective until January 01, 2022