The STOCK Act and the Congressional Stock-Trading Ban, Explained
· Updated
The STOCK Act doesn't stop members of Congress from trading stocks. It makes them disclose trades on a delay, and the usual penalty for filing late is a $200 fee. The bill that would ban new purchases, H.R. 7008, passed the House, then stalled in the Senate on September 30, 2026: 53 senators voted to take it up, and it needed 60.
A member of Congress buys a stock. The STOCK Act doesn't stop the trade.
It requires disclosure instead: trades over $1,000 are reported within 30 days of learning of them.
And never later than 45 days after the trade, however late the filer finds out.
Miss the deadline and the usual House penalty is a $200 fee. Disclosure, not a ban.
The Stop Insider Trading Act (H.R. 7008) passed the House 232-198 in July 2026. In the Senate, only 53 senators backed a vote to take it up, seven short of the 60 it needed, so it is not law. Democrats and both independents voted no, with Democrats objecting in part to a voter-ID section attached to the bill. Its minimum penalty would be ten times the STOCK Act's minimum late fee, and a worked example below shows how it scales from there.
The short version
- Disclosure, not a ban. Trades over $1,000 must be reported within 30 days of learning of them, and never later than 45 days after.
File a trade report late under the STOCK Act and the minimum House fee is $200.
H.R. 7008's minimum penalty would be ten of those fees.
Together they make $2,000, the floor for buying a covered stock in violation. Circles are sized by amount.
And it scales: the greater of $2,000 or 10% of the transaction, plus any net gain.
- Small routine penalty. A late House filing carries a minimum $200 fee. Criminal penalties exist but are rarely invoked.
- The ban bill. H.R. 7008 would stop members, spouses, and dependent children buying covered investments. It passed the House 232-198, then fell seven votes short in the Senate, 53-47 with 60 needed. It is not law.
H.R. 7008 would stop members, spouses and dependent children from buying covered investments.
The House passed it 232 to 198. Circles are sized by votes.
Then it went to the Senate.
On September 30, 2026 only 53 senators voted to take it up, and 47 voted no. It needed 60, so it is not law.
What does the STOCK Act require?
The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, Public Law 112-105, was approved on April 4, 2012 (full text). Five provisions matter for reading trade data:
| Section | What it does |
|---|---|
| Section 4 | Members and employees of Congress "are not exempt from the insider trading prohibitions arising under the securities laws." Amends the Securities Exchange Act so each owes a duty of trust and confidence to Congress, the government, and citizens over material nonpublic information (market-moving facts the public lacks) gained through the job. |
| Section 6 | Adds transaction reporting: a reportable trade must be filed "not later than 30 days after receiving notification" of it, "but in no case later than 45 days after such transaction." |
| Section 8 | Requires the House Clerk and the Senate to post disclosures online and build searchable, sortable, downloadable public databases. |
| Section 14 | Exempts widely held,  diversified investment funds where the filer has no control over holdings. |
| Section 15 | Extends pension-forfeiture rules to cover securities-fraud felonies. |
None creates a standalone trading ban.
Who has to file?
Under Title I of the Ethics in Government Act, as amended by the STOCK Act, House members, officers, and certain senior employees must disclose transactions "over $1,000 for certain securities." The deadline is the earlier of 30 days from learning of the trade or 45 days from the trade.
Hypothetical example, counting days from the trade:
| Filer learns of the trade on | 30 days after that | 45-day cap | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 0 | Day 30 | Day 45 | Day 30 |
| Day 10 | Day 40 | Day 45 | Day 40 |
| Day 25 | Day 55 | Day 45 | Day 45 |
The later a filer learns of a trade, for example one in a spouse's account, the more the 45-day cap matters.
These Periodic Transaction Reports, or PTRs, go to the Clerk of the House, not the Ethics Committee. The House Committee on Ethics financial-disclosure page states both the threshold and the deadline.
Tap the line you think is the tell.
Spotted it.Not that line. The spouse's stock purchase. That's why a tracker row under a member's name may describe a spouse's account: check the owner code.
The Committee's 2025 Instruction Guide lists what does not go on a PTR:
- real property
- excepted investment funds
- mutual funds and ETFs
- transfers solely between the filer and a spouse or dependent children
- Thrift Savings Plan assets
- stock splits
Spouse and dependent-child trades are reportable and carry an owner code, so a tracker row under a member's name may describe a spouse's account.
Senators file under the same statute with the Secretary of the Senate. The Senate Select Committee on Ethics keeps its own financial-disclosure guidance, including Senate Rule 34 and a memo on periodic-transaction requirements.
What are the penalties for a late or missing filing?
The usual consequence is small; larger penalties are rarely invoked. All three are described in the House Ethics Committee's 2025 Instruction Guide, linked from its instruction-guide page:
| Violation | Penalty | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Late PTR | Minimum $200 fee; multiple late PTRs can add more | House Ethics Instruction Guide |
| Knowingly and willfully falsifying or failing to file | Civil or criminal penalties; criminal maximum of one year in prison and a fine of up to $75,540 | Ethics in Government Act, pursued by the Attorney General |
| Materially false statement in a filing | Fines up to $250,000 and five years' imprisonment | 18 U.S.C. § 1001 |
The late fee is paid by personal check or money order to the United States Treasury, never from campaign funds, and the Committee can waive it in extraordinary circumstances.
So a "late filing" tag on a tracker usually means a $200 fee, not an insider-trading finding. Insider-trading liability runs through the securities laws and the SEC, not the disclosure form.
- False statement18 U.S.C. § 1001$250,000, 5 years
- Willful failure to fileOr falsifying; Attorney General$75,540, 1 year
- Late PTRThe usual consequence$200 fee
Where are the filings published?
Section 8 is why public trackers exist. It required both chambers to post forms online within 30 days of filing, in systems that let the public "search, sort, and download" the data.
- Member trades (Over $1,000) to PTR filed (Within 30 or 45 days)
- PTR filed (Within 30 or 45 days) to Posted online (Clerk or Senate eFD): Within 30 days
- Posted online (Clerk or Senate eFD) to Public trackers (Search, sort, download)
- House: the Clerk's
Financial Disclosure Reports database cites Section 8 as its authority and offers year-by-year bulk downloads from 2008 through 2026.
- Senate: the
Electronic Financial Disclosure system, eFD, holds reports for senators, former senators, and Senate candidates filed from 2012 to the present. Senator reports stay up for six years after the member leaves Congress.
Before searching eFD, you must accept a statement quoting 5 U.S.C. app. § 105(c), which makes it unlawful to use a report for a commercial purpose (other than news media), for credit decisions, or for soliciting money, with a civil penalty of up to $10,000. That clause is the legal backdrop for every commercial tracker.
The systems aren't merged, so a member who moved from House to Senate has filings in both. Our guide to reading congressional stock-trade disclosures walks through each field.
Member research: Every filing here is public information, and so is everything a company reports. Our retrospective case studies show how far public evidence alone could take an investor;
What would the Stop Insider Trading Act change?
Rep. Bryan Steil introduced H.R. 7008 on January 12, 2026. The Committee on House Administration reported it on February 3, 2026 (H. Rept. 119-479). The House-passed engrossed text adds a new subchapter to Title 5:
- Purchases banned. "No covered individual may purchase a covered investment." Covered individuals are members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children. A covered investment is a security issued by a publicly traded company, or a comparable interest.
- Sales allowed, with notice. A member must file a public notice of intent to sell at least 7 and no more than 14 calendar days ahead, giving the projected date, a description, and the share count.
- Penalty. The greater of $2,000 or ten percent of the transaction value, plus any net gain, and anything bought in violation must be sold.
- Timing. The trading rules take effect 180 days after enactment.
It stops short of divestiture: members needn't sell what they own, and the congress.gov summary notes exemptions for widely held funds and certain trusts.
- Trading allowed
- Trades over $1,000 disclosed within 30 or 45 days
- Late filing: $200 minimum fee
- No new purchases by members, spouses or dependent children
- Sales need public notice 7 to 14 days ahead
- Penalty: greater of $2,000 or 10%, plus any net gain
- No forced selling of existing holdings
Takes effect 180 days after enactment
The engrossed text also has a Section 3 unrelated to trading: a photo-ID requirement for voting in federal elections, amending the Help America Vote Act. Both provisions travel together in the version the Senate blocked.
Worked example: how the proposed penalty scales
Hypothetical example: a member buys a covered stock in violation of H.R. 7008 and later sells it at a gain. The penalty is the greater of $2,000 or 10% of the transaction value, plus any net gain.
| Purchase size | 10% of purchase | Greater of $2,000 or 10% | Hypothetical net gain | Total owed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 | $1,000 | $3,000 |
| $20,000 | $2,000 | $2,000 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $20,000 |
Three things fall out of the arithmetic:
- The $2,000 floor applies to any purchase up to $20,000, because $2,000 ÷ 10% = $20,000.
- The floor alone is 10 times the STOCK Act's $200 minimum late fee ($2,000 ÷ $200).
- Adding back the net gain means a violating trade can't come out ahead on paper, and the member must still sell the investment.
Pick a purchase size and the gain on the stock
The sale-notice rule has its own window. Hypothetical: for a sale planned on day 30, notice must go out no earlier than day 16 (30 − 14) and no later than day 23 (30 − 7).
Spot on.Close, a little low.Close, a little high.Way off, too low.Way off, too high. It was 13.
13 Democrats voted yes, with 218 Republicans and 1 independent. 198 Democrats voted no, and no Republican opposed the bill.
Where H.R. 7008 stands
The bill passed the House, was blocked in the Senate, and is not law. Senators never debated it: on September 30, 2026 they voted on cloture, the step that ends delay and lets the Senate start work on a bill. Cloture needs 60 votes, three-fifths of the Senate, and it got 53. The congress.gov bill page and the Senate's
roll-call record show:
- July 22, 2026: passed the House "by the Yeas and Nays: 232 - 198 (Roll no. 280)," after a motion to recommit failed 211-218.
- July 23: received in the Senate.
- August 5: read the first time.
- August 6: "read the second time" and "placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 548."
- September 30: "Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected (53-47, 3/5 majority required)," Senate roll call vote 253. As of October 20, 2026 this is the last Senate vote on the bill.
- Apr 4, 2012STOCK Act approvedPublic Law 112-105
- Jan 12, 2026H.R. 7008 introducedRep. Bryan Steil
- Feb 3, 2026Reported by committeeH. Rept. 119-479
- Jul 22, 2026Passes the House232–198
- Jul 23, 2026Received in the Senate
- Aug 6, 2026Calendar No. 548
- Sep 30, 2026Blocked in the Senate53–47, 60 needed
The Clerk's roll-call record splits the vote: 218 Republicans and 1 independent in favor, no Republican opposed; Democrats 13 in favor, 198 opposed, 1 not voting.
The Senate vote split on party lines. All 53 Republicans voted yes; all 45 Democrats and both independents voted no, with every senator voting. Democrats objected to the voter-ID section attached to the bill, and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it a "fraud," pointing instead to a bipartisan ban the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee had already advanced (Daily Caller).
A failed cloture vote doesn't erase the bill. It stays on the Senate calendar and leaders can call another vote, but that vote would also need 60. With Republicans at 53 seats, at least seven Democrats or independents would have to switch.
What this means for trade data
Nothing in current law stops a sitting member from trading individual stocks. While H.R. 7008 remains unpassed, disclosures will keep arriving up to 45 days late and in value ranges, so a disclosed trade can't be treated as a real-time signal.
The politician-trades directory and the most-active members ranking show filing lag per trade and flag rows filed after the 45-day deadline. The congressional-trades dataset keeps the original filing URL on every row, so you can check range, owner, and dates against the House Clerk PDF or Senate eFD report. Coverage includes House filings and electronically filed Senate reports for 2025–2026.
Try it yourself
Test the rules on a real filing in about 10 minutes.
- Open the most-active members ranking and pick a member with a trade flagged as filed after the 45-day deadline.
- Note the transaction date and filing date, and subtract to get the lag. How many days past 45 was it?
- Follow the filing link to the House Clerk PDF or Senate eFD report and check the owner code. Was it the member, a spouse, or a dependent child?
- Enter the value range into the range uncertainty calculator and note the smallest and largest possible amounts.
- Apply H.R. 7008's text: if this was a purchase of a publicly traded stock, it would be banned unless an exemption applied; if it was a sale, it would have needed notice 7 to 14 days ahead.
You should now be able to answer: was this trade on time, whose was it, and would the proposed ban have allowed it?
Our read
The STOCK Act made congressional trading visible without restricting it. With a $200 minimum fee as the routine penalty, a late filing costs a member little, so treat a late flag as a data point about diligence, not evidence of wrongdoing.
If H.R. 7008 or a broader ban becomes law, new purchase disclosures would shrink. Sales notices and existing-holding disclosures would continue; executive-branch filers are untouched by the bill's text. What we'd watch:
- a second cloture vote, which would again need 60
- whether a version without the voter-ID section, such as the Senate committee's bill, reaches the floor
- the 180-day clock, which starts only on enactment
Questions readers ask
Can members of Congress trade stocks?
Yes. The STOCK Act requires them to disclose trades over $1,000 within the 30- and 45-day limits, but it does not ban trading. H.R. 7008 would ban new purchases, but the Senate blocked it and it is not law.
Did the Senate pass the congressional stock trading ban?
No. On September 30, 2026 a vote to take up H.R. 7008 got 53 votes, short of the 60 needed. All Republicans voted yes and all Democrats and independents voted no. The bill can come back, but it would need 60 votes again.
Does the STOCK Act ban insider trading by members?
It confirms that the existing insider-trading laws apply to them. Section 4 says members and employees "are not exempt" and owe a duty of trust and confidence over nonpublic information gained through the job. Enforcement runs through the securities laws and the SEC, not the disclosure form.
Would H.R. 7008 force members to sell what they already own?
No. It bans new purchases of covered investments and requires public notice before sales, but it doesn't require divestiture. The congress.gov summary also notes exemptions for widely held funds and certain trusts.
Does the proposed ban cover spouses?
Yes. Covered individuals are members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children. That matters because spouse trades already show up in today's filings under an owner code.
Go deeper with member research
Disclosure rules tell you what was traded, not whether it was a good investment. For that, you need the company work:
- The fundamental research course: 40 chapters that take you from reading a 10-K to writing your own research memo. The first chapter is free.
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Limits of this data
- Status is as of October 20, 2026. A bill on the General Orders calendar can be taken up again or left there indefinitely, so recheck congress.gov.
- Ethics guidance and fees can change.
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