The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, known as the STOCK Act, is the law behind every congressional trade report you see on WallStPal. It does not ban members of Congress from trading stocks. It requires them to report their trades, and it confirms that insider trading laws apply to them.
This guide covers what the law requires, how it is enforced, the gaps critics point to, and the main proposals to go further.
What the 2012 law requires
President Barack Obama signed the STOCK Act on April 4, 2012, as Public Law 112-105. According to the Congressional Research Service, its main provisions are:
- No insider trading exemption. The law states that members of Congress, congressional staff and other federal officials are not exempt from insider trading laws, and that they owe a duty of trust and confidence regarding nonpublic information they learn through their jobs.
- Periodic transaction reports. Covered officials must report purchases, sales and exchanges of stocks, bonds and similar assets worth more than $1,000, within 30 days of being notified of the trade and no later than 45 days after it.
- Online publication. Reports must be posted on public House, Senate and agency websites.
- IPO limits. Covered officials may not buy shares in an initial public offering unless the offer is open to the public on the same terms.
- Mortgage disclosure. Members and certain senior officials must disclose mortgages on their personal homes on their annual reports.
- Pension forfeiture. Members convicted of certain corruption-related crimes lose credit toward their congressional pension.
The reporting rules cover trades by the member’s spouse and dependent children too. For a line-by-line guide to the reports themselves, see how to read a periodic transaction report.
The 2013 rollback
In April 2013, Congress passed a bill, S. 716, by unanimous consent with no debate, and President Obama signed it on April 15, 2013 (NPR via WFAE). It scaled back the requirement to post disclosures for many congressional and executive branch staff in a searchable online database. Supporters cited identity-theft and security risks for staff. Members’ own reports remain online.
How the law is enforced
Enforcement runs on two tracks.
Filing violations. The House and Senate ethics committees oversee the disclosure rules. A periodic transaction report filed more than 30 days after it is due brings a $200 late fee, payable to the U.S. Treasury. The committee can waive the fee in some circumstances, and no extensions are allowed (Senate Ethics Committee PTR instructions).
Insider trading. Trading on material nonpublic information is prosecuted under federal securities law by the Justice Department and the SEC, as for anyone else. The STOCK Act’s role is to remove any doubt that members are covered.
Why critics call it weak
Reform advocates on both the left and right have pointed to several gaps:
The fee is small. A $200 fee is tiny next to trades reported in ranges of hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. News organizations have documented many late reports, and members are not required to say whether they paid the fee.
The ranges are wide. Reports give amount brackets, such as $1,000,001 to $5,000,000, rather than exact figures.
The delay is long. Up to 45 days can pass before a trade is public.
Spouses can trade. Spouses’ trades must be reported but are not restricted. Members have sometimes said they had no involvement in a spouse’s trades. That statement can be true and still leave the public unable to verify it.
Blind trusts are rare and narrow. Holdings in a qualified blind trust do not need periodic reports. In a qualified blind trust, an independent trustee manages the assets and the official is not told what they are. The trust must be approved by an ethics committee. An account that a member simply calls “managed” by an adviser is not the same thing.
Exempt assets. Widely held mutual funds, U.S. Treasury securities and some other assets do not require periodic reports.
Common misunderstandings
“The STOCK Act banned members from trading.” It did not. It requires reporting and confirms that insider trading laws apply. Members may still buy and sell individual stocks.
“A late report means insider trading.” A late report breaks the disclosure deadline. Insider trading is a separate crime that requires trading on material nonpublic information, and proving it requires far more than a filing date.
“The reports show exact profits.” They show ranges of transaction size. The House form has a checkbox for whether a sale produced a capital gain over $200, but no profit figure.
“Everything a member owns is on the trade reports.” Periodic reports cover trades in covered assets only. The annual financial disclosure, due each May, gives the fuller list of assets and income.
Proposals to ban member trading
Many bills have proposed going further than disclosure. Two that reached recorded votes in the current Congress:
The HONEST Act. Senator Josh Hawley’s bill, first introduced as the PELOSI Act, would bar members of Congress and their spouses from trading or holding individual stocks, and would extend that to future presidents and vice presidents. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced it 8 to 7 on July 30, 2025 (NOTUS).
The Stop Insider Trading Act (H.R. 7008). Introduced by Representative Bryan Steil in January 2026, it would bar members, spouses and dependent children from buying publicly traded stocks, let them keep stocks they already own, require public notice 7 to 14 days before any sale, and set a fee of $2,000 or 10% of the investment’s value, whichever is greater, plus forfeiture of profits (Rep. Steil). The House passed it 232 to 198 on July 22, 2026, in a package that also included a voter ID requirement. On September 30, 2026, a Senate motion to begin debate failed 53 to 47, short of the 60 votes needed. Democrats who opposed it said it did not go far enough because members could keep existing stocks, and objected to the voter ID provisions (Deseret News).
As of October 31, 2026, no ban on member stock trading is law. The STOCK Act’s disclosure rules remain the main requirement.
Examples
2019 and 2020: an insider trading case against a sitting member. Representative Chris Collins of New York passed confidential information about a failed drug trial at Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company, to his son and others, who traded the shares. He resigned from Congress and pleaded guilty in the fall of 2019, and was sentenced on January 17, 2020 to 26 months in prison (STAT). President Donald Trump pardoned him on December 22, 2020 (Roll Call). The case was brought under general insider trading law, the part of the system the STOCK Act confirmed applies to members.
2021: the late fee in practice. In July 2021, Senator Tommy Tuberville filed a report covering roughly 130 trades from January through May that had not been disclosed within the 45-day window, valued between $894,000 and more than $3.5 million. When asked whether he paid the $200 fee, a spokeswoman said only that the office was “working with the Committee to ensure full compliance with their rules” (CNBC). The case shows how small the standard penalty is next to the trades it covers.
What this means when you read the data
- A trade on our Congress page is legal to make. The report tells you it happened, not that anything was wrong.
- A trade marked late broke the reporting deadline. That is a fact about timing.
- Spouse trades appear with the owner code SP. Whether the member was involved is not something the report can show.
- Executive branch officials file similar reports under rules overseen by the Office of Government Ethics. See officials.
Where the data comes from
- Law summary: Congressional Research Service report R42495
- Deadlines: House Committee on Ethics
- Late fee and exemptions: Senate Ethics Committee PTR instructions
- Reports: House Clerk and Senate eFD
- Bill text and status: search H.R. 7008 on congress.gov
For the basics, start with how the STOCK Act works.
Explain it like I’m 13
The STOCK Act is a rule for the people who make our laws. It says two big things. First, you can’t use secret information from your job to make money on stocks, just like everybody else. Second, if you or your husband or wife buys or sells stocks, you have to post it publicly within about six weeks.
If you post late, the fine is $200. Some trades are worth millions, so many people think that’s too small to matter.
Lawmakers have argued for years about banning their own stock trading completely. In 2026 the House voted for a partial ban, but it didn’t get enough votes in the Senate. So for now, the rule is still “trade if you want, but tell everyone.”
Questions about this guide? Pal reads it with you and answers in plain English.
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