S.Amdt. 2965

This amendment, known as the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act, aims to ban insider trading in Congress. It proposes to add a new subchapter to title 5 of the United States Code to stop Members of Congress and their spouses from owning or trading certain financial investments.

What it changes or adds:

• Prohibitions: It bans Members of Congress and their spouses from holding, purchasing, or selling covered financial instruments, which include securities, security futures, commodities, and synthetic interests like derivatives.

• Exclusions: The ban does not apply to diversified mutual funds, diversified exchange-traded funds, U.S. Treasury bills, notes, or bonds, or compensation from a spouse's or dependent child's primary job.

• Compliance Timeline: Current Members and new Members have 180 days from the enactment date (or the start of their first term) to complete sales of these instruments.

• Accountability and Penalties:

  • Members must provide annual written certifications of compliance, which will be posted on a public website.
  • Violators must give any profits from prohibited transactions to the U.S. Treasury.
  • Supervising ethics committees can issue civil fines equal to 10 percent of the value of the instrument not divested.

• Oversight: The Government Accountability Office must conduct an audit of compliance within 2 years of the Act's enactment and report the results to the ethics committees.