Summary#
This bill, the Campaign Event Contract Integrity Act, would make it illegal for people who work for or help political campaigns to trade in prediction-style contracts tied to political events when they have important nonpublic campaign information. It defines who counts as a covered campaign-affiliated individual, what counts as material nonpublic campaign information (like internal polls, turnout projections, voter targeting data, fundraising details, and unreleased endorsements), and what counts as a political event contract (trades tied to elections, nominations, control of Congress, legislation, or other political events).
The bill also would require trading platforms that handle political event contracts to put in place rules and systems to detect and stop insider trading and coordinated manipulation. Platforms must keep records, monitor suspicious or concentrated trading, report issues to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and ask some traders to disclose campaign ties or access to nonpublic campaign information. The CFTC would have 180 days after the bill becomes law to make rules implementing these platform requirements.
Enforcement by the CFTC could include investigations, civil lawsuits, penalties, disgorgement of profits, and temporary or permanent bans on trading political event contracts. The bill includes safe harbors for lawful analysis using public information, journalism, academic research, and trading by people without access to nonpublic campaign information.
What it means for you#
- If you are paid by or provide services to a campaign, political committee, party, leadership PAC, or similar group, you could not buy, sell, or trade political event contracts while you knowingly have important nonpublic campaign information.
- You also could not give that kind of information to someone else if it is reasonably foreseeable they might use it to trade such contracts.
- Trading platforms that list political event contracts must build controls to spot and stop banned trades, keep records, monitor for suspicious trading tied to campaigns, and report problems to the CFTC.
- The CFTC would make rules to implement these requirements and could investigate and bring civil enforcement actions.
- The bill protects regular public analysis, journalism, research, and trades by people who do not have nonpublic campaign information.
Expenses#
- The bill sets civil penalties for violations: up to $250,000 or three times the profit gained or loss avoided, whichever is greater. It also allows disgorgement of profits and temporary or permanent trading bans.
- No publicly available information on estimated costs to Federal agencies, covered platforms, or other parties for compliance, enforcement, or implementation.
Proponents' View#
- The bill is written to prevent people with confidential campaign information from using that information to profit in political event markets and to require platforms to guard against insider trading and manipulation. It gives the CFTC authority to enforce these rules and to write detailed regulations within 180 days.
Opponents' View#
- No publicly available information.