A third theme of the Act involves facilitating electronic records, signatures, and filing. New definitions were added to address filing (Section 102(8)), record (Section 102(25)), and sign (Section 102(30)). Section 105 expressly permits the filing of electronic signatures and records. Collectively these provisions are intended to permit electronic filing in central information depositories such as the Web-CRD (Central Registration Depository), the Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD), the Securities and Exchange Commission's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval System (EDGAR) or successor institutions. Electronic communication also has led to an amplification of the jurisdiction Section 610.

The new Act makes several other significant changes compared to the 1956 Act or RUSA.

(1) The definition of "security" in Section 102(28) has been modernized to take into account amendments to the counterpart federal provisions; add new language to expressly include uncertificated securities; exclude contributory or noncontributory ERISA plans; and amplify the definition of investment contract so that it can expressly reach interests in limited partnerships, limited liability companies, or viatical settlement agreements, among other contracts, when they satisfy the definition of investment contract.

The new Act does not expressly exclude from the definition of security variable insurance products, but does exempt variable insurance products from securities registration in Section 201(4). The states are divided on the question of whether variable insurance products should be excluded (and not subject to fraud enforcement) or exempted (and subject to fraud enforcement). For those states that wish to continue to provide or adopt an exclusion for variable insurance products from the definition of security, the brackets should be removed from the phrase "or variable." For those states that wish variable insurance products to be included in the definition of security, the bracketed phrase should be removed.