II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3130 

To provide energy price relief by authorizing greater resources and authority 

for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 12, 2008 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. REID, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. BINGAMAN, Mr. DORGAN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. BROWN, 

Mr. CASEY, Mr. KERRY, Mr. LEAHY, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. 

OBAMA, and Mr. REED) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To provide energy price relief by authorizing greater resources and authority for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Increasing Trans5 parency and Accountability in Oil Prices Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF SENATE ON ADDITIONAL EMERGENCY 

7 FUNDING FOR COMMISSION. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—The Senate finds that— 


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1 (1) excessive speculation may be adding signifi2 cantly to the price of oil and other energy commod3 ities; 

4 (2) the public and Congress are concerned that 

5 private, unregulated transactions and overseas ex6 change transactions are not being adequately re7 viewed by any regulatory body; 

8 (3) an important Federal overseer of commodity 

9 speculation, the Commodity Futures Trading Com10 mission, has staffing levels that have dropped to the 

11 lowest levels in the 33-year history of the Commis12 sion; and 

13 (4) the acting Chairman of the Commission has 

14 said publicly that an additional 100 employees are 

15 needed in light of the inflow of trading volume. 

16 (b) SENSE OF SENATE.—It is the sense of the Senate 

17 that the President should immediately send to Congress 

18 a request for emergency appropriations for fiscal year 

19 2008 for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 

20 an amount that is sufficient— 

21 (1) to help restore public confidence in energy 

22 commodities markets and Federal oversight of those 

23 markets; 


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1 (2) to potentially impose limits on excessive 

2 speculation that is increasing the price of oil, gaso3 line, diesel, and other energy commodities; 

4 (3) to significantly improve the information 

5 technology capabilities of the Commission to help the 

6 Commission effectively regulate the energy futures 

7 markets; and 

8 (4) to fund at least 100 new full-time positions 

9 at the Commission to oversee energy commodity 

10 market speculation and to enforce the Commodity 

11 Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.). 

12 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL COMMISSION EMPLOYEES FOR IM13 PROVED ENFORCEMENT. 

14 Section 2(a)(7) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 

15 U.S.C. 2(a)(7)) is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(D) ADDITIONAL EMPLOYEES.—As soon 

18 as practicable after the date of enactment of 

19 this subparagraph, the Commission shall ap20 point at least 100 full-time employees (in addi21 tion to the employees employed by the Commis22 sion as of the date of enactment of this sub23 paragraph)— 


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1 ‘‘(i) to increase the public trans2 parency of operations in energy futures 

3 markets; 

4 ‘‘(ii) to improve the enforcement of 

5 this Act in those markets; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) to carry out such other duties as 

7 are prescribed by the Commission.’’. 

8 SEC. 4. INSPECTOR GENERAL. 

9 Section 2(a) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 

10 U.S.C. 2(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(13) INSPECTOR GENERAL.— 

13 ‘‘(A) OFFICE.—There shall be in the Com14 mission, as an independent office, an Office of 

15 the Inspector General. 

16 ‘‘(B) APPOINTMENT.—The Office shall be 

17 headed by an Inspector General, appointed in 

18 accordance with the Inspector General Act of 

19 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.). 

20 ‘‘(C) COMPENSATION.—The Inspector 

21 General shall be compensated at the rate pro22 vided for level IV of the Executive Schedule 

23 under section 5315 of title 5, United States 

24 Code. 


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1 ‘‘(D) ADMINISTRATION.—The Inspector 

2 General shall exert independent control of the 

3 budget allocations, expenditures, and staffing 

4 levels, personnel decisions and processes, pro5 curement, and other administrative and man6 agement functions of the Office.’’. 

7 SEC. 5. STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL REGULATION OF EN8 ERGY COMMODITY MARKETS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 

10 United States shall conduct a study of the international 

11 regime for regulating the trading of energy commodity fu12 tures and derivatives. 

13 (b) ANALYSIS.—The study shall include an analysis 

14 of, at a minimum— 

15 (1) key common features and differences among 

16 countries in the regulation of energy commodity 

17 trading, including with respect to market oversight 

18 and enforcement; 

19 (2) agreements and practices for sharing mar20 ket and trading data; 

21 (3) the use of position limits or thresholds to 

22 detect and prevent price manipulation, excessive 

23 speculation, or other unfair trading practices; 


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1 (4) practices regarding the identification of 

2 commercial and noncommercial trading and the ex3 tent of market speculation; and 

4 (5) agreements and practices for facilitating 

5 international cooperation on market oversight, com6 pliance, and enforcement. 

7 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 

8 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 

9 submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 

10 that— 

11 (1) describes the results of the study; and 

12 (2) provides recommendations to improve open13 ness, transparency, and other necessary elements of 

14 a properly functioning market in a manner that pro15 tects consumers in the United States from the ef16 fects of excessive speculation and energy price vola17 tility. 

18 SEC. 6. SPECULATIVE LIMITS AND TRANSPARENCY FOR 

19 OFF-SHORE OIL TRADING. 

20 Section 4 of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 

21 6) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(e) FOREIGN BOARDS OF TRADE.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any foreign 

24 board of trade for which the Commission has grant25 ed or is considering an application to grant a board 


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1 of trade located outside of the United States relief 

2 from the requirement of subsection (a) to become a 

3 designated contract market, derivatives transaction 

4 execution facility, or other registered entity, with re5 spect to an energy commodity that is physically de6 livered in the United States, prior to continuing to 

7 or initially granting the relief, the Commission shall 

8 determine that the foreign board of trade— 

9 ‘‘(A) applies comparable principles or re10 quirements regarding the daily publication of 

11 trading information and position limits or ac12 countability levels for speculators as apply to a 

13 designated contract market, derivatives trans14 action execution facility, or other registered en15 tity trading energy commodities physically deliv16 ered in the United States; and 

17 ‘‘(B) provides such information to the 

18 Commission regarding the extent of speculative 

19 and nonspeculative trading in the energy com20 modity that is comparable to the information 

21 the Commission determines necessary to publish 

22 a Commitment of Traders report for a des23 ignated contract market, derivatives transaction 

24 execution facility, or other registered entity 


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1 trading energy commodities physically delivered 

2 in the United States. 

3 ‘‘(2) EXISTING FOREIGN BOARDS OF TRADE.— 

4 During the period beginning 1 year after the date of 

5 enactment of this subsection and ending 18 months 

6 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 

7 Commission shall determine whether to continue to 

8 grant relief in accordance with paragraph (1) to any 

9 foreign board of trade for which the Commission 

10 granted relief prior to the date of enactment of this 

11 subsection.’’. 

12 SEC. 7. COMMISSION AUTHORITY OVER TRADERS. 

13 Section 4 of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 

14 6) (as amended by section 6) is amended by adding at 

15 the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(f) COMMISSION AUTHORITY OVER TRADERS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

18 provision of this section or any determination made 

19 by the Commission to grant relief from the require20 ments of subsection (a) to become a designated con21 tract market, derivatives transaction execution facil22 ity, or other registered entity, in the case of a person 

23 located within the United States, or otherwise sub24 ject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, trading 

25 on a foreign board of trade, exchange, or market loVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:08 Jun 14, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3130.IS S3130

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1 cated outside the United States (including the terri2 tories and or possessions of the United States), the 

3 Commission shall have authority under this Act— 

4 ‘‘(A) to apply and enforce section 9, in5 cluding provisions relating to manipulation or 

6 attempted manipulation, the making of false 

7 statements, and willful violations of this Act; 

8 ‘‘(B) to require or direct the person to 

9 limit, reduce, or liquidate any position to pre10 vent or reduce the threat of price manipulation, 

11 excessive speculation, price distortion, or dis12 ruption of delivery or the cash settlement proc13 ess; and 

14 ‘‘(C) to apply such recordkeeping require15 ments as the Commission determines are nec16 essary. 

17 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—Prior to the issuance of 

18 any order under paragraph (1) to reduce a position 

19 on a foreign board of trade, exchange, or market lo20 cated outside the United States (including the terri21 tories and possessions of the United States), the 

22 Commission shall consult with the foreign board of 

23 trade, exchange, or market and the appropriate reg24 ulatory authority. 


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1 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION.—Nothing in this sub2 section limits any of the otherwise applicable au3 thorities of the Commission.’’. 

4 SEC. 8. INDEX TRADERS AND SWAP DEALERS. 

5 Section 4 of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 

6 6) (as amended by section 7) is amended by adding at 

7 the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(g) INDEX TRADERS AND SWAP DEALERS.—Not 

9 later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this sub10 section, the Commission shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) routinely require detailed reporting from 

12 index traders and swap dealers in markets under the 

13 jurisdiction of the Commission; 

14 ‘‘(2) reclassify the types of traders for regu15 latory and reporting purposes to distinguish between 

16 index traders and swaps dealers; and 

17 ‘‘(3) review the trading practices for index trad18 ers in markets under the jurisdiction of the Commis19 sion— 

20 ‘‘(A) to ensure that index trading is not 

21 adversely impacting the price discovery process; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(B) to determine whether different prac24 tices or regulations should be implemented.’’. 


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1 SEC. 9. DISAGGREGATION OF INDEX FUNDS AND OTHER 

2 DATA IN ENERGY MARKETS. 

3 Section 4 of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 

4 6) (as amended by section 8) is amended by adding at 

5 the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(h) DISAGGREGATION OF INDEX FUNDS AND DATA

7 IN ENERGY MARKETS.—The Commission shall 

8 disaggregate and make public monthly— 

9 ‘‘(1) the number of positions and total value of 

10 index funds and other passive, long-only positions in 

11 energy markets; and 

12 ‘‘(2) data on speculative positions relative to 

13 bona fide physical hedgers in those markets.’’. 

Æ 


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