lcalvobartolome/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2007-12-13 00:00:00

CFTC Reauthorization Act of 2007 - Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to revise Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) jurisdiction over an agreement, contract, or retail transaction in foreign currency. Extends coverage to certain future commissions merchants (and affiliated persons) and retail foreign exchange dealers. Requires them to register with the CFTC in order to: (1) solicit or accept orders from any person that is not an eligible contract participant in connection with such agreements, contracts, or transactions; (2) exercise discretionary trading authority (or obtain written authorization to do so) over any account for or on behalf of such a person; or (3) operate or solicit funds, securities, or property for any pooled investment vehicle that is not such an eligible contract participant. Revises the prohibition against contracts designed to defraud or mislead. Declares that the requirements of such prohibition do not obligate any person, in connection with a transaction, to disclose to another person in the transaction any nonpublic information that may be material to the market price, rate, or level of the commodity or transaction, except as necessary to make any statement to such other person not misleading in any material respect. Authorizes appropriations for the CFTC through FY2013. Increases: (1) the civil penalty for market manipulation to $1 million, or triple the monetary gain for each such violation; and (2) the criminal penalty for market manipulation from five to ten years imprisonment. Subjects to CFTC jurisdiction certain agreements, contracts, or transactions that perform a significant price discovery function in spite of the fact that they are conducted, on an electronic trading facility on a principal-to-principal basis solely between persons that are eligible commercial entities, in reliance on the general exemption for such agreements, contracts, and transactions (in the exempt commercial markets (ECMs)). Subjects to CFTC (large trader) reporting and recordkeeping requirements any significant price discovery contract traded or executed on an electronic trading facility. Authorizes the CFTC to communicate to an electronic trading facility, with respect to a significant price discovery contract, the full facts concerning any transaction or market operation which, in the CFTC's judgment, disrupts or tends to disrupt any market, or is otherwise harmful or against the best interests of producers, consumers, or investors.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2008-02-14 00:00:00

Securities Litigation Attorney Accountability and Transparency Act - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933 to state that, in any private action in which the court enters a final judgment against plaintiff on the basis of a motion to dismiss, motion for summary judgment, or a trial on the merits, the court shall, upon defendant's motion, determine whether: (1) the position of the plaintiff was not substantially justified; (2) imposition of fees and expenses on the plaintiff's attorney would be just; and (3) the cost of such fees and expenses to the defendant is substantially burdensome or unjust.Requires the court to award the defendant reasonable fees and other expenses, and impose such fees and expenses on the plaintiff's attorney, if the court makes positive determinations in such a case.Places the burden of persuasion upon the defendant as to whether or not the position of the plaintiff was substantially justified.Requires plaintiff and plaintiff's attorney to provide sworn, signed certifications that identify any actual or promised payment by the attorney to the plaintiff, beyond the plaintiff's pro rata share of any recovery.Requires similar plaintiff and plaintiff's attorney certifications regarding: (1) legal representations; (2) contributions; and (3) conflicts of interest.Requires the court, in exercising discretion over the approval of lead counsel, to employ a competitive bidding process as one of the criteria (unless the court determines that such a process is not feasible). Instructs the Comptroller General to study and report to certain congressional committees on average hourly fees in securities class actions.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2008-04-10 00:00:00

CFTC Improvement Act of 2008 - Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to revise Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) jurisdiction over certain agreements, contracts, and transactions in retail foreign currency. Extends coverage to certain future commissions merchants (and affiliated persons) and retail foreign exchange dealers. Requires them to register with the CFTC in order to solicit or accept orders from any person that is not an eligible contract participant in connection with such agreements, contracts, or transactions. Directs the CFTC to maintain a liaison with the Department of Justice to coordinate civil and criminal investigations and prosecutions of violations of the Act. Revises the prohibition against contracts designed to defraud or mislead. Declares that the requirements of such prohibition do not obligate any person, in connection with a transaction, to disclose to another person in the transaction any nonpublic information that may be material to the market price, rate, or level of the commodity or transaction, except as necessary to make any statement to such other person not misleading in any material respect. Increases: (1) the civil penalty for market manipulation to $1 million, or triple the monetary gain for each such violation; and (2) the criminal penalty for market manipulation from five to ten years imprisonment Authorizes appropriations for the CFTC through FY2013. Requires the agencies represented on the President's Working Group on Financial Markets to work to ensure that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the CFTC, have taken the actions to permit: (1) by September 30, 2008, risk-based portfolio margining for security options and security futures products; and (2) by June 30, 2008, the trading of futures on certain security indexes by resolving issues related to foreign security indexes. Sets forth standards applicable to significant price discover contracts, including: (1) price linkage; (2) arbitrage; (3) core principles applicable to significant price discovery contract; and (4) daily publication of trading information. Subjects to CFTC (large trader) reporting and recordkeeping requirements any significant price discovery contract traded or executed on an electronic trading facility.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2008-05-05 00:00:00

Affordable Housing Expansion Act of 2008 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to allocate among the states in 2008 and subsequent years unused amounts of authorized private activity bonds for prior calendar years.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2008-05-15 00:00:00

Enhanced Emergency and Enforcement Authority Act - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to empower the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reduce, eliminate, or prevent substantial disruption by an emergency of the ability of market participants to conduct securities activities or comply with obligations under the securities laws in a timely, orderly, or efficient manner. Amends the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Company Act of 1940, and Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to provide that, in any action or proceeding instituted by the SEC in federal district court for any judicial district, subpoenas issued by or on behalf of such court to compel the attendance of witnesses or the production of documents or tangible things (or both) may be served in any other district (thus granting the SEC nationwide service of process).
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2008-06-05 00:00:00

Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act of 2008 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from state volume caps private facility bonds for sewage and water supply facilities.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2008-06-10 00:00:00

Credit Rating Agency Transparency and Disclosure Act - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to instruct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to promulgate rules that: (1) require nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs), with respect to their determination of credit ratings for structured securities, to disclose the information they require from originators, issuers, and underwriters regarding the collateral underlying such securities; (2) establish procedures to disseminate information about processes used by such originators, issuers, and underwriters to assess the accuracy and integrity of their data and fraud detection; and (3) require each NRSRO to maintain on a publicly accessible Internet site the historical default rates of all classes of financial products it has rated.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2008-06-12 00:00:00

Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to make it unlawful for a person to enter into or execute an otherwise excluded swap transaction or exempt transaction involving crude oil, heating oil, gasoline, or diesel fuel (specified energy commodity), unless the person has been certified by the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) as having the capacity of accepting physical delivery of the commodity. Makes it unlawful, as well, for any person to hold a contract or agreement of sale of a specified energy commodity for future delivery, which is otherwise an excluded swap transaction or an exempt transaction, unless the CFTC has certified that the person has the capacity to produce or manufacture the commodity.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Energy
Date: 2008-06-17 00:00:00

Oil Speculation Reduction Act of 2008 - Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to prohibit the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from exempting a board of trade, exchange, or market located outside the United States from the requirement to become a designated contract market, derivatives transaction execution facility, or other registered entity, with respect to agreements, contracts, and transactions (transactions) in crude oil to be physically delivered in the United States, unless the CFTC makes certain determinations. Requires the CFTC to determine, in order to make such an exemption, that the board of trade, exchange, or market: (1) applies principles or requirements regarding the daily publication of trading information and position limits or accountability levels for speculators in such transactions comparable to those applied by a designated contract market, derivatives transaction execution facility, or other registered entity; (2) provides information to the CFTC regarding the extent of speculative and nonspeculative trading in transactions in crude oil comparable to the information the CFTC determines necessary to publish a Commitment of Traders report for a designated contract market, derivatives transaction execution facility, or other registered entity with respect to the trading; and (3) imposes margin requirements comparable to those imposed by a designated contract market, derivatives transaction execution facility, or other registered entity for commodities, and sufficient to reduce excessive speculation and protect consumers. Directs CFTC to determine whether to continue to grant any such exemption that was granted before the enactment of this Act to any board of trade, exchange, or market located outside the United States.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2008-06-17 00:00:00

Close the London Loophole Act of 2008 - Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to authorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), in the case of a registered entity located within the United States, and subject to CFTC jurisdiction, which trades on a foreign board of trade, exchange, or market located outside the United States, to: (1) enforce criminal prosecution of violations, including manipulation or attempted manipulation, the making of false statements, and willful violations of this Act; (2) require a person to limit, reduce, or liquidate any position to prevent or reduce the threat of price manipulation, excessive speculation, price distortion, or disruption of delivery or the cash settlement process; and (3) apply necessary recordkeeping requirements. Addresses the kind of case in which the CFTC grants or considers granting relief to a foreign board of trade from the requirement that it become a designated contract market, derivatives transaction execution facility, or other registered entity with respect to an energy commodity physically delivered in the United States. Requires the CFTC, before granting or considering such relief, to determine that the foreign board of trade: (1) applies comparable principles or requirements regarding the daily publication of trading information and position limits or accountability levels for speculators as apply to a designated contract market, derivatives transaction execution facility, or other registered entity trading energy commodities physically delivered in the United States; and (2) provides such information to the CFTC regarding the extent of speculative and nonspeculative trading in the energy commodity that is comparable to the information the CFTC determines necessary to publish a Commitment of Traders report for such a designated contract market, derivatives transaction execution facility, or other registered entity.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Energy
Date: 2008-06-20 00:00:00

Increasing Transparency and Accountability in Oil Prices Act of 2008 - Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should immediately send to Congress a request for emergency appropriations for FY2008 for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in an amount that is sufficient to: (1) help restore public confidence in energy commodities markets and federal oversight of those markets; (2) potentially impose limits on excessive speculation that may be increasing the price of oil, gasoline, diesel, and other energy commodities; (3) significantly improve the information technology capabilities of the CFTC to help it effectively regulate the energy futures markets; and (4) fund at least 100 new full-time positions at the CFTC to oversee energy commodity market speculation and to enforce the Commodity Exchange Act. Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to provide for additional employees for improved enforcement. Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to address the kind of case in which the CFTC grants or considers granting relief to a foreign board of trade from the requirement that it become a designated contract market, derivatives transaction execution facility, or other registered entity with respect to an energy commodity physically delivered in the United States. Requires the CFTC, before granting or considering such relief, to determine that the foreign board of trade: (1) applies comparable principles or requirements regarding the daily publication of trading information and position limits or accountability levels for speculators as apply to a designated contract market, derivatives transaction execution facility, or other registered entity trading energy commodities physically delivered in the United States; and (2) provides such information to the Commission regarding the extent of speculative and nonspeculative trading in the energy commodity that is comparable to the information the Commission determines necessary to publish a Commitment of Traders report for such a designated contract market, derivatives transaction execution facility, or other registered entity. Requires the Commission to disaggregate and make public monthly: (1) the number of positions and total value of index funds and other passive, long-only positions in energy markets; and (2) data on speculative positions relative to bona fide physical hedgers in those markets.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Energy
Date: 2008-06-20 00:00:00

Energy Markets Anti-Manipulation and Integrity Restoration Act - Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) jurisdiction over energy derivatives traded on or through a board of trade, exchange, or market, either domestic or foreign.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Energy
Date: 2008-06-25 00:00:00

Commodity Futures Restoration Act - Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to remove "energy commodity" from the category of exempt commodities (thus bringing "energy commodity" within the purview of the Act and extending the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to derivatives and swaps involving energy commodities). Declares that a board of trade, exchange, or market shall not be considered to be foreign or located outside the United States if: (1) it has an affiliate located in the United States; or (2) a contract of sale of a commodity, or a significant price discovery contract, is executed or traded on such board of trade, exchange, or market.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2008-06-26 00:00:00

Energy Markets Emergency Act of 2008 - Directs the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to utilize all its authority, including its emergency powers, to: (1) curb immediately the role of excessive speculation in any contract market within its jurisdiction and control on or through which energy futures or swaps are traded; and (2) eliminate excessive speculation, price distortion, sudden or unreasonable fluctuations or unwarranted changes in prices, or other unlawful activity that is causing major market disturbances that prevent the market from accurately reflecting the forces of supply and demand for energy commodities.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2008-06-26 00:00:00

Amends the Inspector General Act of 1978 to include the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the CFTC within the definitions of "head of the establishment" and "establishment," respectively, and to exclude the CFTC from the definition of "designated federal entity," for purposes of that Act (thus elevating the Inspector General of the CFTC to an Inspector General appointed under that Act).
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2008-07-14 00:00:00

Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revise regulations relating to "asset-backed securities" to define an "NRSRO asset-backed securities" subset, which shall: (1) be the only asset-backed securities for which a credit rating agency may register and issue ratings as a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO); and (2) be restricted to securities representing interests in pools of assets whose performance can be evaluated based on a documented history of predictable performance of similar assets, and which are contained in structures which also have a documented history of predictable performance. Requires the revision of such regulations to include a list of the classes of securities approved as NRSRO asset-backed securities. Prescribes an approval process for NRSRO asset-backed securities classes, including approval standards. Requires an NRSRO to: (1) review annually all ratings issued and outstanding in obligor categories for which it has registered; (2) formally affirm, upgrade, downgrade, or remove ratings based on such review; and (3) provide the SEC with full access to models, documentation, assumptions and performance data upon request, answer all questions posed by the SEC, and cooperate with any SEC investigation. Directs the SEC to determine whether ratings are issued with the expectation of meeting aggregate historical loss and default standards for given ratings levels across all categories for which a credit rating agency has registered.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2008-07-16 00:00:00

Directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to: (1) reinstate rule 10a-1 (the uptick rule) governing short sales of securities; (2) rescind the prohibition against applying certain price tests to short sales; and (3) reinstate price test restrictions that applied to short sales of securities prior to SEC action in a specified proceeding on June 28, 2007.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2008-07-31 00:00:00

Small Business Access to Savings Act of 2008 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax-free hardship distribution from a 401k pension plan to prevent the insolvency of a trade or business of the plan participant.
Topic: Domestic Commerce — Securities & Commodities
Date: 2008-09-17 00:00:00

Commodity Prices Oversight and Transparency Act of 2008 - Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should immediately send to Congress a request for additional appropriations for FY2008 for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to: (1) help restore public confidence in commodity futures markets and federal oversight of those markets; (2) allow the CFTC to reduce the potential threat of market manipulation or congestion by potential imposition of position limitations for speculators should the CFTC determine the absence of position limitations for speculators is causing an increase in the price of oil, gasoline, diesel, and other energy commodities; (3) improve its information technology capabilities significantly; and (4) fund at least 100 new full-time positions to regulate such markets. Amends the Commodity Exchange Act (Act) to direct the CFTC to appoint additional full-time employees.Directs the CFTC to take specified steps to enforce and promote accountability and transparency for contracts trading on foreign boards of trade. Shields from liability certain persons trading on a legally organized foreign board of trade. States that no contract of sale of a commodity for future delivery transacted through the facilities of a board of trade, exchange, or market located outside the United States shall be void, voidable, or unenforceable, and no party to such contract shall be entitled to rescind or recover any payments made with respect to such contract based upon the noncompliance of the foreign board of trade with such Act. Requires the CFTC to: (1) issue a proposed rule governing reporting requirements for index traders and swap dealers in futures markets for exempt and agricultural commodities; (2) disaggregate and make public monthly information on the positions and value of index funds and other passive positions material to a commodity futures or options markets; and (3) report to certain congressional committees on the scope of commodity index trading in the futures market, including whether such trading adversely affects price discovery in the futures markets.