Bipartisan Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1679 To prohibit stock trading and ownership by Members of Congress and spouses of Members of Congress, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 21, 2023 Ms. JAYAPAL (for herself, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. NADLER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. POR- TER, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. TONKO, Mr. ROSENDALE, and Mr. BUCK) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Finan- cial Services, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, House Administration, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently de- termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To prohibit stock trading and ownership by Members of Congress and spouses of Members of Congress, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bipartisan Ban on 4 Congressional Stock Ownership Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Apr 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1679.IH H1679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1679 IH SEC. 2. BAR ON STOCK TRADING AND OWNERSHIP BY MEM- 1 BERS OF CONGRESS AND SPOUSES. 2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 (1) COMMODITY.—The term ‘‘commodity’’ has 4 the meaning given that term in section 1a of the 5 Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1a). 6 (2) CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS COMMITTEE.—The 7 term ‘‘congressional ethics committee’’ has the 8 meaning given that term in section 13101 of title 5, 9 United States Code. 10 (3) DIVERSIFIED.—The term ‘‘diversified’’, 11 with respect to an investment fund, means that the 12 investment fund does not have a stated policy of 13 overly concentrating its investments. 14 (4) MEMBER OF CONGRESS.—The term ‘‘Mem- 15 ber of Congress’’ has the meaning given that term 16 in section 13101 of title 5, United States Code. 17 (5) SECURITY.—The term ‘‘security’’ has the 18 meaning given that term in section 3(a) of Securities 19 Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)). 20 (6) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The term 21 ‘‘small business concern’’ has the meaning given 22 that term under section 3 of the Small Business Act 23 (15 U.S.C. 632). 24 (7) WIDELY HELD INVESTMENT FUND.—The 25 term ‘‘widely held investment fund’’ means a widely 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Apr 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1679.IH H1679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1679 IH held investment fund described in 13104(f)(8) of 1 title 5, United States Code. 2 (b) DIVESTMENT.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub- 4 section (c), no Member of Congress or spouse of a 5 Member of Congress may own an interest in or trade 6 (except as a divestment) any stock, bond, com- 7 modity, future, or other form of security, including 8 an interest in a hedge fund, a derivative, option, or 9 other complex investment vehicle. 10 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.— 11 (A) CURRENT MEMBERS.— 12 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 13 in clause (ii), an individual who is a Mem- 14 ber of Congress on the date of enactment 15 of this Act, or the spouse of such an indi- 16 vidual, shall complete the divestment of 17 any asset described in paragraph (1) by 18 not later than 180 days after the date of 19 enactment of this Act. 20 (ii) CERTAIN ASSETS.—For an asset 21 described in paragraph (1) that is an inter- 22 est in a hedge fund, venture capital fund, 23 or other privately held complex investment 24 vehicle, an individual who is a Member of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Apr 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1679.IH H1679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1679 IH Congress on the date of enactment of this 1 Act, or the spouse of such an individual, 2 shall complete the divestment of the asset 3 by not later than 5 years after the date of 4 enactment of this Act. 5 (B) NEW MEMBERS.— 6 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 7 in clause (ii), an individual who becomes a 8 Member of Congress after the date of en- 9 actment of this Act, or who is the spouse 10 of such an individual, shall complete the 11 divestment of any asset described in para- 12 graph (1) by not later than 180 days after 13 the date on which the individual becomes a 14 Member of Congress. 15 (ii) CERTAIN ASSETS.—For an asset 16 described in paragraph (1) that is an inter- 17 est in a hedge fund, venture capital fund, 18 or other privately held complex investment 19 vehicle, an individual who becomes a Mem- 20 ber of Congress after the date of enact- 21 ment of this Act, or who is the spouse of 22 such an individual, shall complete the di- 23 vestment of the asset by not later than 5 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Apr 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1679.IH H1679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1679 IH years after the date on which the indi- 1 vidual becomes a Member of Congress. 2 (C) DIVESTMENT OF ASSETS RECEIVED 3 WHILE A MEMBER.—An individual serving as a 4 Member of Congress, or the spouse of such an 5 individual, who receives any asset described in 6 paragraph (1) during the period of such service, 7 such as from an inheritance, shall complete the 8 divestment of the asset by not later than 180 9 days after the date on which the individual or 10 spouse receives the asset. 11 (c) EXCEPTIONS.—Nothing in this section shall be 12 construed to prevent— 13 (1) a Member of Congress or spouse of a Mem- 14 ber of Congress from owning or trading— 15 (A) a widely held investment fund, if the 16 widely held investment fund— 17 (i) does not present a conflict of inter- 18 est; and 19 (ii) is diversified; 20 (B) shares of Settlement Common Stock 21 issued under section 7(g)(1)(A) of the Alaska 22 Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 23 1606(g)(1)(A)); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Apr 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1679.IH H1679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1679 IH (C) shares of Settlement Common Stock, 1 as defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native 2 Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602); 3 (D) a United States Treasury bill, note, or 4 bond; 5 (E) an investment fund held in a Federal, 6 State, or local government employee retirement 7 plan; 8 (F) an interest in a small business con- 9 cern, if the small business concern does not 10 present a conflict of interest; or 11 (G) any asset described in subsection 12 (b)(1) received as compensation from the pri- 13 mary occupation of the spouse; or 14 (2) a spouse of a Member of Congress from 15 trading any asset described in subsection (b)(1) that 16 is not owned by the spouse or Member of Congress 17 in the course of performing the primary occupation 18 of the spouse. 19 (d) CIVIL FINES.—The Attorney General or the Spe- 20 cial Counsel may bring a civil action in the appropriate 21 United States district court against any Member of Con- 22 gress or spouse of a Member of Congress who engages 23 in conduct constituting a violation of this section and, 24 upon proof of such conduct by a preponderance of the evi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Apr 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1679.IH H1679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1679 IH dence, such Member of Congress or spouse shall be subject 1 to a civil penalty of not more than $50,000 for each viola- 2 tion. The imposition of a civil penalty under this sub- 3 section does not preclude any other criminal or civil statu- 4 tory, common law, or administrative remedy, which is 5 available by law to the United States or any other person. 6 (e) NONRECOGNITION OF GAIN.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 8 1043(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 9 amended— 10 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub- 11 paragraph (A); 12 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 13 subparagraph (C); 14 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 15 the following new subparagraph: 16 ‘‘(B) any Member of Congress or Member 17 of Congress-elect, but only with respect to a di- 18 vestment of property required by the Bipartisan 19 Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act of 20 2023, and’’; and 21 (D) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’ in 22 subparagraph (C), as so redesignated, and in- 23 serting ‘‘subparagraph (A) or (B), whichever is 24 applicable’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Apr 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1679.IH H1679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1679 IH (2) CERTIFICATE OF DIVESTITURE.—Subpara- 1 graph (B) of section 1043(b)(2) of such Code is 2 amended— 3 (A) by striking ‘‘or by’’ and inserting 4 ‘‘by’’; and 5 (B) by inserting ‘‘, or by the applicable 6 congressional ethics committee, in the case of 7 Members of Congress, Members of Congress- 8 elect, and spouses of Members of Congress and 9 Members of Congress-elect’’ after ‘‘judicial offi- 10 cers’’. 11 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 12 by this subsection shall apply to sales of property 13 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 14 (f) INTERPRETIVE GUIDANCE.—The Select Com- 15 mittee on Ethics of the Senate and the Committee on Eth- 16 ics of the House of Representatives shall issue interpretive 17 guidance regarding relevant terms not defined in this Act 18 or elsewhere in statute. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Apr 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1679.IH H1679 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS