From: Dave Bish Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 10:16 AM Subject: Proposed changes to Mutual fund trading rules (s7-26-03) Dear sirs: I am writing to strongly object to two courses of action which I understand the SEC may be considering to combat the mutual fund abuse scandal. Please do not penalize innocent investors in your attempt to stop the law breakers. First, regarding the issue of submitting mutual fund orders to the fund after 4:00 pm (not the financial intermediary) - this proposed rule change will hurt innocent investors like myself. I have my funds at mutual fund supermarkets like Schwab and Fidelity to allow easy purchases of shares of various mutual fund families. This allows competition among fund families which is good and I only have to complete one set of account opening paperwork versus the opening process at each and every fund family. However, if I make a decision at 3:30 or even 3:59 pm to make a purchase - the proposed change in rules will prevent me from making the purchase that day. I have NEVER benefited from the ALREADY ILLEGAL action of submitting orders after 4:00. The fact that funds are only priced once a day is creating a movement to Exchange Traded Funds - this rule change will only further the shift of funds in that direction. The scandalous activity you are trying to stop is already illegal - you just need to punish the criminals rather than assuming that you cannot trust anyone and must penalize everybody the same. (Perhaps the sale of the miscreant's first born?) The second action of a short term redemption fee also will tend to punish all to prevent the few. Have you never changed your mind regarding a mutual fund trade (due to your own incorrect analysis or changing market conditions)? Once again, the abusers should be stopped - by the mutual funds themselves which state it is not allowed in their prospectus. Certain fund families like RYDEX cater to timers - let the legal timing activity migrate there. Since mutual fund portfolio managers are hurt by the large inflows of timers - let them ferret out the problem accounts who lose trading privileges. Once again, these changes will only harm innocent investors and drive the migration to ETFs. Please contact me if you have any questions. Thank you very much. David A. Bish (530) 244-9465