On June 10, SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar delivered a speech at the Social Investment Forum 2011 Conference in which he stated that the SEC's workload is at an inflection point, with most of the "heavy-lifting" mandated by Dodd-Frank still in front of it. In this context, Aguilar discussed some of the challenges now facing the SEC, and reiterated several points that have been key themes of his for some time now. Chief among these points is his belief that the SEC has been handed far greater responsibilities despite being chronically underfunded and despite having no real control over its own budget.

Specifically, Aguilar observed that:

Over the last 20 years, the SEC's "budget, workforce, and technology programs have fallen far behind the growth in the size and complexity of the securities markets."

The period since 2005 has been a particularly difficult time for the SEC's budget. Between 2005 and 2007, the SEC's workforce and technology investments were cut back, and half a decade later they are only now finally returning to 2006 levels. 

Many financial firms the SEC regulates "spend more each year on their technology budgets, alone, than the SEC spends on all of its operations."

Self-funding is still the best model for determining the SEC's budget--just like other financial regulators such as the FDIC and the Federal Reserve.  Self-funding would allow the SEC to make multi-year budgeting decisions, and the agency would no longer suffer the "paralysis of the continuing resolution process" as occurred this year.

This year's funding of the agency via continuing resolutions resulted in a hiring freeze at the SEC, cuts in out-of-town inspections by examiners, and a limited capacity to hire expert witnesses in trials.

The SEC's self-funded financial regulatory counterparts "have been able to respond to rapidly changing circumstances and growing needs by hiring staff and investing in technology in a way that the SEC can only dream about."

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