California is changing filing procedures and conduct rules for investment advisers on October 1. The Office of Administrative Law lists Department of Financial Protection and Innovation file 2026-0717-01 as filed August 28 and effective October 1, 2026.

The approved text amends eight sections of title 10 of the California Code of Regulations. The most consequential changes for investment advisers concern filings through the Investment Adviser Registration Depository, documents sent directly to DFPI, a transition from federal to state registration, and five new expressly prohibited practices.

The amendments also update broker-dealer provisions, including agency names, regulatory cross-references, and recordkeeping terminology. Broker-dealers should review the complete approved text rather than assume every amendment described below applies to them.

IARD becomes the default filing route

Amended section 260.230 says investment-adviser and investment-adviser-representative applications, amendments, reports, notices, related filings, and fees required under the rules must be filed electronically through IARD unless another rule says otherwise.

For an IARD filing, the document is considered filed when the required fees have been received and IARD has accepted the submission for California. Typing an authorized signer's name into the required fields and submitting the filing constitutes the legal electronic signature described by the rule.

Documents that IARD does not permit or cannot accept must be filed directly with DFPI at IAAPP@dfpi.ca.gov. The final text strikes the former paper-filing instruction. Firms should not treat the email route as an alternative for a document that IARD can accept.

State applicants have a separate financial-record authorization step

An applicant for a California investment-adviser certificate continues to file Form ADV through IARD. The amended section 260.231 also requires the applicant to complete the prescribed Customer Authorization of Disclosure of Financial Records, keep the executed form in its books and records, and email a copy to IAAPP@dfpi.ca.gov when the application is filed.

The approved redline replaces language that called for providing the authorization upon request. It also says an application is not considered filed until the required fee and all required submissions reach the commissioner. Filing Form ADV through IARD is not automatic approval; the applicant must wait for DFPI approval through IARD before treating the certificate as granted.

The rule retains the $125 initial application fee and routes that fee through IARD. It also directs the statement of financial condition and supporting worksheet, advisory contracts, qualification evidence, and a business entity applicant's federal taxpayer identification number to the commissioner as specified in the final text.

Federal-to-state transitions require sequencing

Amended section 260.230.1 addresses advisers moving from Securities and Exchange Commission registration to California registration. Once an adviser files Form ADV-W to withdraw its SEC registration, it may not conduct investment-adviser business in California until it has secured a state certificate, unless an exemption applies.

The text permits the adviser to apply for the California certificate before its SEC registration terminates. A firm planning a transition should sequence the state application and federal withdrawal so that it does not create an avoidable gap in authority.

The same section requires an SEC-registered adviser subject to California's notice rule to submit its initial Form ADV notice and fee through IARD within 30 days after it begins doing business in the state. Annual renewals and Form ADV amendments also run through IARD under the amended rule.

Five prohibited practices are now explicit

Amended section 260.238 adds five items to California's list of prohibited investment-adviser practices. It expressly prohibits:

  • putting a term in an advisory or other contract that requires a person to waive compliance with the rules or law;
  • doing indirectly, or through another person, what would be unlawful to do directly;
  • conduct that appears to intimidate, or has the effect of intimidating, a client or a representative of the commissioner;
  • failing to fully disclose documents or information during a DFPI examination or investigation under the cited Corporations Code sections; and
  • conduct inconsistent with the fiduciary duty to act solely in a client's best interests.

These additions do not replace the rest of section 260.238. Advisers remain responsible for the existing prohibitions on misleading statements, undisclosed compensation conflicts, improper guarantees, confidentiality breaches, and deficient advisory contracts.

The October 1 effective date is recorded on Federal Weekly's compliance calendar, and the amendments are indexed in the Business Rule Change Tracker.

The practical takeaway

A California investment adviser or applicant should map every required submission to one of two routes before October 1: IARD for filings the system accepts, or the DFPI email route for documents that the rules require directly and IARD cannot accept. State applicants should add the financial-record authorization email to their filing checklist and keep the executed form with their regulated records.

An adviser preparing to leave SEC registration should obtain California authority before the federal withdrawal cuts off its ability to operate in the state. Existing advisers should review contracts, examination-response procedures, staff communications, and fiduciary-duty controls against the five new express prohibitions before the effective date.