I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 682 
To prohibit securities and commodities trading based on nonpublic information 
relating to Congress, and to require additional reporting by Members 
and employees of Congress of securities transaction, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 26, 2009 
Mr. BAIRD (for himself, Ms. SLAUGHTER, and Mr. WALZ) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, 
and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, the Judici-
ary, Agriculture, and Standards of Official Conduct, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To prohibit securities and commodities trading based on non-
public information relating to Congress, and to require 
additional reporting by Members and employees of Con-
gress of securities transaction, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Trading on Con-
gressional Knowledge Act’’. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
06:11 Jan 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H682.IH
H682
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
SEC. 2. NONPUBLIC INFORMATION RELATING TO CON-
GRESS. 
(a) SECURITIES TRANSACTIONS.—Section 10 of the 
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) NONPUBLIC INFORMATION RELATING TO CON-
GRESS.—Not later than 270 days after the date of enact-
ment of this subsection, the Commission shall by rule pro-
hibit any person from buying or selling the securities of 
any issuer while such person is in possession of material 
nonpublic information, as defined by the Commission, re-
lating to any pending or prospective legislative action re-
lating to such issuer if— 
‘‘(1) such information was obtained by reason 
of such person being a Member or employee of Con-
gress; or 
‘‘(2) such information was obtained from a 
Member or employee of Congress, and such person 
knows that the information was so obtained. 
‘‘(d) NONPUBLIC
INFORMATION
RELATING
TO 
OTHER FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.— 
‘‘(1) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 270 days 
after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 
Commission shall by rule prohibit any person from 
buying or selling the securities of any issuer while 
such person is in possession of material nonpublic 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
06:11 Jan 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H682.IH
H682
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
information derived from Federal employment and 
relating to such issuer if— 
‘‘(A) such information was obtained by 
reason of such person being an employee of an 
agency, as such term is defined in section 
551(1) of title 5, United States Code; or 
‘‘(B) such information was obtained from 
such an employee, and such person knows that 
the information was so obtained. 
‘‘(2) MATERIAL
NONPUBLIC
INFORMATION.— 
For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘material 
nonpublic information’ means any information that 
an employee of an agency (as such term is defined 
in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code) 
gains by reason of Federal employment and that 
such employee knows or should know has not been 
made available to the general public, including infor-
mation that— 
‘‘(A) is routinely exempt from disclosure 
under section 552 of title 5, United States 
Code, or otherwise protected from disclosure by 
statute, Executive order, or regulation; 
‘‘(B) is designated as confidential by an 
agency; or 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
06:11 Jan 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H682.IH
H682
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
‘‘(C) has not actually been disseminated to 
the general public and is not authorized to be 
made available to the public on request.’’. 
(b) COMMODITIES TRANSACTIONS.—Section 4c of the 
Commodities Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 6c) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(h) NONPUBLIC INFORMATION RELATING TO CON-
GRESS.—Not later than 270 days after the date of enact-
ment of this subsection, the Commission shall by rule pro-
hibit any person from buying or selling any commodity 
for future delivery while such person is in possession of 
material nonpublic information, as defined by the Com-
mission, relating to any pending or prospective legislative 
action relating to such commodity if— 
‘‘(1) such information was obtained by reason 
of such person being a Member or employee of Con-
gress; or 
‘‘(2) such information was obtained from a 
Member or employee of Congress, and such person 
knows that the information was so obtained. 
‘‘(i) NONPUBLIC INFORMATION RELATING TO OTHER 
FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.— 
‘‘(1) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 270 days 
after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 
Commission shall by rule prohibit any person from 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
06:11 Jan 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H682.IH
H682
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
buying or selling any commodity for future delivery 
while such person is in possession of material non-
public information derived from Federal employment 
and relating to such commodity if— 
‘‘(A) such information was obtained by 
reason of such person being an employee of an 
agency, as such term is defined in section 
551(1) of title 5, United States Code; or 
‘‘(B) such information was obtained from 
such an employee, and such person knows that 
the information was so obtained. 
‘‘(2) MATERIAL
NONPUBLIC
INFORMATION.— 
For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘material 
nonpublic information’ means any information that 
an employee of an agency (as such term is defined 
in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code) 
gains by reason of Federal employment and that 
such employee knows or should know has not been 
made available to the general public, including infor-
mation that— 
‘‘(A) is routinely exempt from disclosure 
under section 552 of title 5, United States 
Code, or otherwise protected from disclosure by 
statute, Executive order, or regulation; 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
06:11 Jan 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H682.IH
H682
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
‘‘(B) is designated as confidential by an 
agency; or 
‘‘(C) has not actually been disseminated to 
the general public and is not authorized to be 
made available to the public on request.’’. 
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE RULES OF THE HOUSE OF 
REPRESENTATIVES REGARDING SECURITIES 
TRADING BASED ON NONPUBLIC INFORMA-
TION. 
Rule XXIII (known as the ‘‘Code of Official Con-
duct’’) of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 
amended by redesignating clause 18 as clause 19 and by 
inserting after clause 17 the following new clause: 
‘‘18. A Member, Delegate, Resident Commis-
sioner, officer, or employee of the House shall not— 
‘‘(a) disclose material nonpublic informa-
tion relating to any pending or prospective leg-
islative action relating to any publicly-traded 
company if that Member, Delegate, Resident 
Commissioner, officer, or employee has reason 
to believe that the information will be used to 
buy or sell the securities of such publicly-traded 
company based on such information; or 
‘‘(b) disclose material nonpublic informa-
tion relating to any pending or prospective leg-
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
06:11 Jan 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H682.IH
H682
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS