PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Common name Official bill text · Reported substitute
The reported substitute uses this name; the introduced version was titled the PELOSI Act.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 294.
Congressional Research Service
Version 25 · Reported to Senate · Dec 10, 2025
Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act
This bill generally prohibits the President, Vice President, and Members of Congress (and their spouses and dependents) from owning, acquiring, or selling certain investments, including individual stocks and digital assets. Violations are subject to specified civil penalties.
Under the bill, covered officials and their spouses and dependents may not purchase or sell individual stocks, digital assets, or related financial instruments that are not diversified investment funds, Treasury securities, or certain other holdings.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
The bill also prohibits covered officials, their spouses, or their dependents from maintaining a qualified blind trust. The bill requires covered officials to divest from prohibited investments they, their spouse, or their dependent owns or controls. The bill establishes processes for divestment from qualified blind trusts and disposition of certain inherited investments. Violations are subject to specified civil penalties.
Covered officials, their spouses, and their dependents are prohibited from controlling or purchasing prohibited investments until 90 days after the covered official ceases to serve in office.
Each applicable supervising ethics office must make related information (e.g., certain notices of divestiture; descriptions of assets held in trusts; and federal loans, grants, or related benefits that the official received) available online in a searchable format.
Further, the bill imposes penalties on Members of and candidates for Congress and congressional employees for failing to comply with existing financial disclosure requirements.
People & committees
Sen. Hawley, Josh [R-MO] · R–MO
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 294.
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Paul with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Paul with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jul 28, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Reported to Senate · 2025-12-10 · proposed committee substitute (deleted text excluded) text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed HONEST Act, in the committee substitute reported to the Senate on December 10, 2025, would generally bar members of Congress, the President, the Vice President, their spouses and dependent children under 19 from buying or keeping individual stocks and other investments, including commodities such as raw materials, contracts for future delivery, and digital assets such as cryptocurrency. Officials’ purchase ban would start at enactment; existing holdings would generally have to be sold when an official starts a term after enactment, with extra time allowed in some cases.
2025-12-10: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Paul with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
The term covered person means— (A) a Member of Congress; (B) the President of the United States; or (C) the Vice President of the United States.
The term dependent child means, with respect to any covered person, any individual who is— (A) under 19 years of age; and (B) a dependent of the covered person within the meaning of section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
The term covered investment means— (i) an investment in— (I) a security; (II) a commodity; (III) a future; or (IV) a digital asset; (ii) any economic interest comparable to an interest described in clause (i) that is acquired through synthetic means, such as the use of a derivative, including an option, warrant, or other similar means; or (iii) any interest described in clause (i) or (ii) that is held directly, or in which an individual has an indirect, beneficial, or economic interest, through— (I) an investment fund or holding company; (II) a trust; (III) an employee benefit plan; or (IV) a deferred compensation plan, including a carried interest or other agreement tied to the performance of an investment, other than a fixed cash payment.
The term future means— (A) a security future (as defined in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a))); and (B) any other contract for the sale of a commodity for future delivery.
The term digital asset means any digital representation of value that is recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger or any similar technology.
effective on the date of enactment of the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act, a covered person shall not purchase any covered investment;
shall divest each covered investment owned or in the custody of— (I) the covered person; or (II) a spouse or dependent child of the covered person.
the date on which the covered person commences a new term of service as a Member of Congress, President, or Vice President after such date of enactment
in the case of a covered person who is sworn into office after the date of enactment of the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act, or the spouse or dependent child of such a covered person, the date on which the covered person commences such term of service as a Member of Congress, President, or Vice President.
An extension granted under subclause (I) shall not exceed 90 days.
Exceptions would include mutual funds and exchange-traded funds—funds pooling investments—that have no stated policy of concentrating on one business, industry or country other than the United States; U.S. Treasury debt; certain investments received through a spouse’s work; and small businesses an ethics office finds pose no conflict of interest. A legal guardian could also hold or trade up to $10,000 in otherwise restricted investments for a dependent child.
The term covered investment does not include— (i) a diversified mutual fund (including any holdings of such a fund); (ii) a diversified exchange-traded fund (including any holdings of such a fund); (iii) a United States Treasury bill, note, or bond;
The term diversified, with respect to a fund, trust, or plan, means that the fund, trust, or plan does not have a stated policy of concentrating its investments in any single industry, business, or single country other than the United States.
any security that is issued or paid by an operating business that is the primary employer of such a spouse that is issued or paid to such a spouse;
an interest in a small business concern, if the supervising ethics office determines that the small business concern does not present a conflict of interest
An individual who is a dependent child of a covered person may have a legal guardian hold or trade on behalf of the dependent child 1 or more covered investments provided that the value of the covered investments in total does not exceed $10,000.
The proposal would also impose a $500 fine for each failure to file a required investment transaction report starting March 31, 2027. Starting 18 months after enactment, official congressional websites would have to let the public search, sort and download financial and transaction disclosure data for members of Congress and congressional candidates.
a reporting individual shall be assessed a fine, pursuant to regulations issued by the applicable supervising ethics office (including the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, as applicable), of $500 in each case in which the reporting individual fails to file a transaction report required under this Act or an amendment made by this Act.
The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall apply on and after March 31, 2027.
through databases maintained on the official websites of the House of Representatives and the Senate
financial disclosure report filed by a Member of Congress or a candidate for Congress; (II) transaction disclosure report filed by a Member of Congress or a candidate for Congress
allows the public to search, sort, and download data contained in the reports
The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date that is 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act.
Covered investments would include securities, commodities, futures, digital assets, comparable interests created through derivatives, and indirect interests held through funds, holding companies, trusts, employee benefit plans, or deferred compensation arrangements.
The term covered investment means— (i) an investment in— (I) a security; (II) a commodity; (III) a future; or (IV) a digital asset; (ii) any economic interest comparable to an interest described in clause (i) that is acquired through synthetic means, such as the use of a derivative, including an option, warrant, or other similar means; or (iii) any interest described in clause (i) or (ii) that is held directly, or in which an individual has an indirect, beneficial, or economic interest, through— (I) an investment fund or holding company; (II) a trust; (III) an employee benefit plan; or (IV) a deferred compensation plan, including a carried interest or other agreement tied to the performance of an investment, other than a fixed cash payment.
A dependent child would have to be under 19 and qualify as the official's dependent under the cited tax provision. Digital assets would include digital representations of value recorded using a cryptographically secured distributed ledger or similar technology.
The term dependent child means, with respect to any covered person, any individual who is— (A) under 19 years of age; and (B) a dependent of the covered person within the meaning of section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
The term digital asset means any digital representation of value that is recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger or any similar technology.
The proposal would exclude diversified mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, Treasury securities, government employee retirement-plan funds, and tax-free state or municipal bonds. Diversification would mean no stated policy of concentrating investments in one industry, business, or country other than the United States.
The term covered investment does not include— (i) a diversified mutual fund (including any holdings of such a fund); (ii) a diversified exchange-traded fund (including any holdings of such a fund); (iii) a United States Treasury bill, note, or bond;
(vii) any investment fund held in a Federal, State, or local government employee retirement plan; (viii) a tax-free State or municipal bond;
The term diversified, with respect to a fund, trust, or plan, means that the fund, trust, or plan does not have a stated policy of concentrating its investments in any single industry, business, or single country other than the United States.
Spousal exceptions would cover primary-occupation compensation, securities issued or paid by the spouse's primary operating-business employer, and securities received for corporate board service, including reinvested dividends in the same security. Spouses could also trade investments for their primary occupation if those investments were not owned by the official, spouse, or dependent child.
(iv) compensation from the primary occupation of the spouse of a covered person, or any security that is issued or paid by an operating business that is the primary employer of such a spouse that is issued or paid to such a spouse; (v) holding and acquiring any security that is issued or paid as compensation from corporate board service by the spouse of a covered person, including the dividend reinvestment in the same security received from the corporate board service by the spouse of a covered person; (vi) any covered investment that is traded by the spouse of a covered person in the course of performing the primary occupation of such a spouse, provided the investment is not owned by a covered person or the spouse or dependent child of a covered person;
Small-business interests would be excluded if the supervising ethics office found no conflict of interest. For a qualifying family farm or ranch, the exclusion would also cover futures or commodities directly related to its farming activities and products.
(ix) an interest in a small business concern, if the supervising ethics office determines that the small business concern does not present a conflict of interest, and, in the case of an investment in a family farm or ranch that qualifies as an interest in a small business concern, a future or commodity directly related to the farming activities and products of the farm or ranch;
Other exclusions would allow holding investment-grade corporate bonds already held by an official, spouse, or dependent child on enactment, and would exclude specified Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Settlement Common Stock.
(x) holding investment-grade corporate bonds, provided that the corporate bonds are held by an individual who is a covered person, or a spouse or dependent child of a covered person, on the date of enactment of the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act; (xi) any share of Settlement Common Stock issued under section 7(g)(1)(A) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1606(g)(1)(A)); or (xii) any share of Settlement Common Stock, as defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602).
Officials would be barred from purchasing covered investments on enactment and from selling them 90 days later, subject to the specified divestiture exceptions. Investments reported as jointly owned with a spouse would count as the official's investments for these trading rules.
(1) effective on the date of enactment of the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act, a covered person shall not purchase any covered investment; (2) effective on the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act, a covered person shall not sell any covered investment, except as provided in section 13163(a)(1);
Notwithstanding subsection (a), a covered person may divest a covered investment as directed by the relevant supervising ethics office pursuant to this subchapter.
Any covered investment reported to the supervising ethics office as jointly owned by a covered person and the spouse of the covered person shall be deemed to be a covered investment of the covered person for purposes of this section.
The general divestiture deadline would be the start of the next post-enactment term for officials sworn in on or before enactment, or the start of the term for officials sworn in afterward. Subject to exceptions and extensions, officials would have to divest covered investments owned or held in custody by themselves, their spouses, or dependent children.
not later than the effective date described in subsection (j)(1), subject to any extension granted under subparagraph (C)(iii) of this paragraph, shall divest each covered investment owned or in the custody of— (I) the covered person; or (II) a spouse or dependent child of the covered person.
not later than the effective date described in subsection (j)(2), subject to any extension granted under subparagraph (C)(iii) of this paragraph, shall divest each covered investment owned or in the custody of— (I) the covered person; or (II) a spouse or dependent child of the covered person.
(1) in the case of a covered person who is sworn into office on or before the date of enactment of the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act, or the spouse or dependent child of such a covered person, the date on which the covered person commences a new term of service as a Member of Congress, President, or Vice President after such date of enactment; or (2) in the case of a covered person who is sworn into office after the date of enactment of the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act, or the spouse or dependent child of such a covered person, the date on which the covered person commences such term of service as a Member of Congress, President, or Vice President.
The spouse-and-child trading ban would begin on the applicable term-based date. Separately, the acquisition provision would prohibit officials, spouses, and dependent children from acquiring covered investments beginning on enactment, subject to the inheritance provision and applicable rules.
(3) on and after the applicable effective date described in section 13163(j), an individual who is a spouse or dependent child of a covered person shall not purchase any covered investment or sell any covered investment, except as provided in section 13163(a)(1).
Subject to paragraph (2), and any applicable rules issued pursuant to subsection (h)(3), effective beginning on the date of enactment of the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act, no covered person, or spouse or dependent child of a covered person, may acquire any covered investment.
Private-fund interests held when the relevant term begins would have special divestiture timing tied to when a sale is contractually permitted. The text requires timing after the applicable effective date and ties the deadline to 90 days after contractual permission to sell; it does not clearly resolve situations in which those requirements conflict.
The term illiquid investment means an interest in a private fund, as defined in section 202(a) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b–2(a)).
if the covered person commences a new term of service as a Member of Congress, President, or Vice President after such date of enactment and holds an illiquid investment at that time, the covered person shall divest the illiquid investment not later than the date that is— (I) after the effective date described in subsection (j)(1); and (II) 90 days after the date on which the covered person is contractually permitted to sell the illiquid investment.
if the covered person holds an illiquid investment on the date on which the covered person commences such term of service as a Member of Congress, President, or Vice President, the covered person shall divest the illiquid investment on the date that is— (I) after the effective date described in subsection (j)(2); and (II) not later than 90 days after the date on which the covered person is contractually permitted to sell the illiquid investment.
Qualified blind trusts would generally be prohibited 180 days after the applicable term-based effective date. Trustees of existing trusts holding covered investments would have to sell those investments under the divestiture requirements and dissolve the trusts.
Except as provided in clause (iii), on and after the date that is 180 days after the applicable effective date described in subsection (j), neither a covered person nor any spouse or dependent child of the covered person may maintain a qualified blind trust.
(aa) divest all covered investments held in the qualified blind trust for the purposes of complying with the divestiture requirements under this section, in accordance with subparagraph (A); and (bb) dissolve the qualified blind trust in accordance with this chapter and guidance from the supervising ethics office.
An official could request a blind-trust divestiture extension when the trustee believed the investments' size or complexity warranted it; an extension could not exceed 90 days. Officials could direct trustees about divestiture timing, permitted replacement property, and use of a certificate of divestiture.
in any case in which the trustee of the qualified blind trust believes the size or complexity of the covered investments in the qualified blind trust warrant such extension may apply to the supervising ethics office for an extension of the period described in subparagraph (A). (II) Duration An extension granted under subclause (I) shall not exceed 90 days.
A covered person may communicate with and direct the trustee of their qualified blind trust for the purposes of— (I) determining when divestment of covered investments in the qualified blind trust should occur, pursuant to subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, clause (ii) of this subparagraph, or section 13162(b), as applicable; (II) determining which permitted property covered investments should be divested into; and (III) whether the trustee utilizes a certificate of divestiture pursuant to section 1043(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by subsection (b) of this section.
A dependent child could have a legal guardian hold or trade covered investments on the child's behalf if their total value did not exceed $10,000.
An individual who is a dependent child of a covered person may have a legal guardian hold or trade on behalf of the dependent child 1 or more covered investments provided that the value of the covered investments in total does not exceed $10,000.
The proposal would amend Internal Revenue Code section 1043(b) to add references to covered officials and their supervising ethics offices, and specify diversified mutual funds or exchange-traded funds for covered officials in the amended investment language. These changes would apply to sales after enactment. The underlying provision is not supplied, so the complete tax consequences cannot be established from this text alone.
Section 1043(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting or a covered person (as defined in section 13161 of title 5, United States Code), after of the Federal Government,;
by inserting or the applicable supervising ethics office (as defined in section 13101 of title 5, United States Code), in the case of a covered person after judicial officers,
or any diversified mutual fund or a diversified exchange-traded fund described in clause (i) or (ii) of section 13161(2)(B) of title 5, United States Code (in the case of any eligible person who is a covered person (as so defined))
The amendments made by this subsection shall apply to sales after the date of enactment of the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act.
Inherited covered investments would require compliance within 120 days. If that deadline could not be met, the covered official could request reasonable extensions from the ethics office, of no more than 45 days each and no more than 150 days of extensions altogether.
a covered person, or a spouse or dependent child of a covered person, who inherits a covered investment shall come into compliance as required under subsection (a) by not later than 120 days after the date on which the covered investment is inherited.
If a covered person, or a spouse or dependent child of a covered person, is unable to meet the requirements of subparagraph (A), the applicable covered person may request, and the supervising ethics office may grant, 1 or more reasonable extensions, subject to the conditions that— (i) the total period of time covered by all extensions granted for the covered investment shall not exceed 150 days; and (ii) the period covered by a single extension shall be not longer than 45 days.
Ethics offices could exempt family trusts only if the official, spouse, and dependent children were not grantors, had contributed no assets, and had no authority over a trustee, and the grantor was or had been a family member of the official, spouse, or dependent child. Written requests would have to certify compliance, and both requests and responses would be public.
A supervising ethics office may grant an exemption for a family trust only if— (A) no covered person, or spouse or dependent child of a covered person— (i) is a grantor of the family trust; (ii) contributed any asset to the family trust; or (iii) has any authority over a trustee of the family trust, including the authority to appoint, replace, or direct the actions of such a trustee; and (B) the grantor of the family trust is or was a family member of the covered person, or the spouse or dependent child of the covered person.
shall submit to the applicable supervising ethics office a request for the exemption, in writing, certifying that the conditions described in that paragraph are met.
A supervising ethics office shall publish on the public website of the supervising ethics office— (A) a copy of each request submitted under paragraph (2); and (B) the written response of the supervising ethics office to each request described in subparagraph (A).
Except as otherwise provided, officials and their spouses and dependent children could not control covered investments, including buying new ones, from the start of service until 90 days after the official left office.
During the period beginning on the date on which an individual becomes a Member of Congress, President, or Vice President and ending on the date that is 90 days after the date on which the individual ceases to serve as a Member of Congress, President, or Vice President, the covered person, and any spouse or dependent child of the covered person, may not, except as provided in this section, otherwise control a covered investment, including purchasing new covered investments.
Trustees would have to report completed divestiture and trust dissolution, including assets and value categories at dissolution. Ethics offices would publish submitted notices and documentation, extension descriptions, and civil penalties, and post a dissolution notice within 30 days.
the trustee shall submit to the supervising ethics office and the applicable covered person a written notice stating that the trustee has completed divestiture of all covered investments held in the qualified blind trust
Upon the dissolution of a qualified blind trust pursuant to subclause (I)(bb), the trustee shall submit to the supervising ethics office and the applicable covered person a written notice stating that the trust has dissolved the qualified blind trust pursuant to subclause (I)(bb) and shall include a list of the assets held in the qualified blind trust on the date of the dissolution of such trust and the category of value of each such asset.
Each supervising ethics office shall make available on the public website of the supervising ethics office— (A) a copy of— (i) each notification submitted to the supervising ethics office in accordance with subsection (a)(1)(C)(ii)(II); (ii) each notice and other documentation submitted to the supervising ethics office under this section; and (iii) each written response and other documentation issued or received by the supervising ethics office under subsection (d); (B) not later than 30 days after a qualified blind trust maintained by a covered person is dissolved, a written notice of the dissolution of the qualified blind trust; and (C) a description of each extension granted, and each civil penalty imposed, pursuant to this section.
Officials would have to report covered federal payments involving themselves, their spouses, dependent children, or businesses they owned and controlled. Reports would be due within 30 days after receiving notice of an application or receipt, and no later than 45 days after payment was made or promised.
Not later than 30 days after the date of receipt of a notice of any application for, or receipt of, a covered payment by a covered person, or a spouse or dependent child of a covered person, including any business owned and controlled by the covered person, spouse, or dependent child, but in no case later than 45 days after the date on which the covered payment is made or promised to be made, the covered person shall submit to the applicable supervising ethics office a report describing the covered payment.
Reportable federal payments would include money or other value, loans, contracts, and grants, including agricultural ones. Federal service compensation, reimbursement of personal outlays, and tax refunds, including refundable credits, would be excluded.
the term covered payment— (i) means a payment of money or any other item of value made, or promised to be made, by the Federal Government; (ii) includes— (I) a loan agreement, contract, or grant made, or promised to be made, by the Federal Government, including such an agreement, contract, or grant relating to agricultural activity; and (II) such other types of payment of money or items of value as the supervising ethics office may establish, by guidance; and (iii) does not include— (I) any salary or compensation for service performed as, or reimbursement of personal outlay by, an officer or employee of the Federal Government; or (II) any tax refund (including a refundable tax credit).
Ethics offices would issue written notices for failures to divest or prohibited acquisitions. Continuing noncompliance would require a penalty on the covered official after 30 days and at least every 30 days afterward. Each penalty would equal the greater of one month's official pay or 10% of the value of each investment not divested in violation of the section during the penalty period.
The applicable supervising ethics office shall provide a written notice (including notice of the potential for civil penalties under paragraph (2))
(A) fails to divest a covered investment owned by, in the custody of, or held in a qualified blind trust of, the covered person or spouse or dependent child of a covered person, in accordance with subsection (a)(1), subject to any extension under subsection (a)(1)(C)(iii); or (B) acquires an interest in a covered investment in violation of this section.
In the event of continuing noncompliance after issuance of the notice described in paragraph (1), the supervising ethics office shall impose a civil penalty, in the amount described in subparagraph (B), on a covered person to whom a notice is provided under subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1)—
(i) on the date that is 30 days after the date of provision of the notice; and (ii) during the period in which such noncompliance continues, not less frequently than once every 30 days thereafter.
shall be equal to the greater of— (i) the monthly equivalent of the annual rate of pay payable to the covered person; and (ii) an amount equal to 10 percent of the value of each covered investment that was not divested in violation of this section during the period covered by the penalty.
Supervising ethics offices would collect penalties, establish implementation procedures and forms, issue rules and guidelines they considered appropriate, and publish the documents and communications described in the duties subsection.
Each supervising ethics office shall— (1) impose and collect civil penalties in accordance with subsection (g); (2) establish such procedures and standard forms as the supervising ethics office determines to be appropriate to implement this section; (3) issue such rules and guidelines as the supervising ethics office determines to be appropriate for the implementation and application of this subchapter; and (4) publish on a website all documents and communications described in this subsection.
Section 2 would also change statutory cross-references, remove clause 13122(f)(2)(B)(iv) and references making other language subject to it, and replace a Lobbying Disclosure Act reference to certain legislative branch employees with a reference to officers or employees of Congress as defined in title 5. The underlying statutory provisions are not supplied, so these textual changes do not establish their full substantive effects.
in section 13122(f)(2)(B)— (i) by striking Subject to clause (iv) of this subparagraph, before each place it appears and inserting Before; and (ii) by striking clause (iv).
Section 3(4)(D) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602(4)(D)) is amended by striking legislative branch employee serving in a position described under section 13101(13) of title 5, United States Code and inserting officer or employee of Congress (as defined in section 13101 of title 5, United States Code).
Section 21A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78u–1) is amended— (A) in subsection (g)(2)(B)(ii), by striking section 13101(11) and inserting section 13101;
Section 3 would require a $500 fine for each failure to file a transaction report required by the STOCK Act or its amendments, starting March 31, 2027. Fines would go to Treasury miscellaneous receipts, and ethics offices would have one year after enactment to update their rules and records.
a reporting individual shall be assessed a fine, pursuant to regulations issued by the applicable supervising ethics office (including the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, as applicable), of $500 in each case in which the reporting individual fails to file a transaction report required under this Act or an amendment made by this Act.
The fines paid under this section shall be deposited in the miscellaneous receipts of the Treasury.
The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall apply on and after March 31, 2027.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, each supervising ethics office (as defined in section 13101 of title 5, United States Code) (including the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, as applicable) shall amend the rules, regulations, guidance, documents, papers, and other records of the supervising ethics office in accordance with the amendment made by this section.
Section 4 would amend the STOCK Act's electronic filing and public-access provisions to use official House and Senate website databases. Public access would cover Members' and congressional candidates' financial and transaction reports and related extension, amendment, or blind-trust notices.
by inserting , pursuant to subchapter I of chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, through databases maintained on the official websites of the House of Representatives and the Senate after enable;
public access— (i) to each— (I) financial disclosure report filed by a Member of Congress or a candidate for Congress; (II) transaction disclosure report filed by a Member of Congress or a candidate for Congress pursuant to section 13105(l); and (III) notice of extension, amendment, or blind trust, with respect to a report described in subclause (I) or (II), pursuant to subchapter I of chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code;
The public databases would have to support searching, sorting, downloading, and access through an application programming interface. They would have to meet the specified disability-accessibility standards. These amendments would take effect 18 months after enactment.
allows the public to search, sort, and download data contained in the reports described in subclause (I) or (II) of clause (i) by criteria required to be reported, including by filer name, asset, transaction type, ticker symbol, notification date, amount of transaction, and date of transaction; (II) allows access through an application programming interface; and (III) is fully compliant with— (aa) section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d); and (bb) the most recent Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (or successor guidelines).
The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date that is 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act.
Section 5 would preserve the remaining provisions and applications if a provision, amendment, or its application were held unconstitutional.
If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the application of such provision or amendment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act and of the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the remaining provisions of this Act and amendments to any person or circumstance, shall not be affected.
The July 28, 2026 source snapshot records introduction and committee referral on April 28, 2025, a favorable order to report a substitute on July 30, and reporting with a substitute and placement on the Senate calendar on December 10, 2025. It describes reporting without a written report.
Source snapshot updated 2026-07-28T23:30:16Z.
2025-12-10: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 294. 2025-12-10: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Paul with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
2025-07-30: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably. 2025-04-28: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. 2025-04-28: Introduced in Senate
A closer look
Reviewed version: Reported to Senate · 2025-12-10 · proposed committee substitute (deleted text excluded). These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
After review of the entire supplied full-text substitute, no unrelated provision or policy attached to appropriations was identified. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish the contents or attachment history of other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
After review of the entire supplied full-text substitute, no congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified. This conclusion is limited to that text and does not establish absence or formal earmark status in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The supplied substitute contains narrow exceptions and special treatment within its investment restrictions. Their identification describes differential treatment, not a judgment about justification or motive.
Spouses receiving securities through their primary employer or corporate board service would receive specific exclusions from the investment restrictions, including same-security dividend reinvestment for board compensation.
(iv) compensation from the primary occupation of the spouse of a covered person, or any security that is issued or paid by an operating business that is the primary employer of such a spouse that is issued or paid to such a spouse; (v) holding and acquiring any security that is issued or paid as compensation from corporate board service by the spouse of a covered person, including the dividend reinvestment in the same security received from the corporate board service by the spouse of a covered person;
Spouses who trade investments in their primary occupation would receive a specific exclusion for that trading, provided the investments are not owned by the official, spouse, or dependent child. This occupational exception would not permit the covered family to own those investments under this exclusion.
(vi) any covered investment that is traded by the spouse of a covered person in the course of performing the primary occupation of such a spouse, provided the investment is not owned by a covered person or the spouse or dependent child of a covered person;
Covered holders of small-business interests could retain them after an ethics-office finding of no conflict. Qualifying family farms and ranches would also receive an exclusion for directly related futures and commodities.
(ix) an interest in a small business concern, if the supervising ethics office determines that the small business concern does not present a conflict of interest, and, in the case of an investment in a family farm or ranch that qualifies as an interest in a small business concern, a future or commodity directly related to the farming activities and products of the farm or ranch;
Officials and covered family members already holding investment-grade corporate bonds on enactment would receive an exclusion for holding those bonds.
(x) holding investment-grade corporate bonds, provided that the corporate bonds are held by an individual who is a covered person, or a spouse or dependent child of a covered person, on the date of enactment of the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act;
Covered holders of specified Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Settlement Common Stock would benefit from an asset-specific exclusion from covered investments.
(xi) any share of Settlement Common Stock issued under section 7(g)(1)(A) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1606(g)(1)(A)); or (xii) any share of Settlement Common Stock, as defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602).
Officials holding private-fund interests when the relevant term begins would receive special divestiture timing that could allow retention beyond the general term-start deadline. The text ties divestiture to contractual permission to sell and requires timing after the applicable effective date. It does not clearly resolve conflicts between those timing requirements, so this is not an unconditional exemption from divestiture.
The term illiquid investment means an interest in a private fund, as defined in section 202(a) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b–2(a)).
if the covered person commences a new term of service as a Member of Congress, President, or Vice President after such date of enactment and holds an illiquid investment at that time, the covered person shall divest the illiquid investment not later than the date that is— (I) after the effective date described in subsection (j)(1); and (II) 90 days after the date on which the covered person is contractually permitted to sell the illiquid investment.
if the covered person holds an illiquid investment on the date on which the covered person commences such term of service as a Member of Congress, President, or Vice President, the covered person shall divest the illiquid investment on the date that is— (I) after the effective date described in subsection (j)(2); and (II) not later than 90 days after the date on which the covered person is contractually permitted to sell the illiquid investment.
Dependent children would receive a limited exception allowing a guardian to hold or trade up to $10,000 in total covered investments for them.
An individual who is a dependent child of a covered person may have a legal guardian hold or trade on behalf of the dependent child 1 or more covered investments provided that the value of the covered investments in total does not exceed $10,000.
Officials and covered family members with qualifying family trusts could benefit from a discretionary exemption from the investment restrictions. The ethics office could grant it only if the grantor is or was a family member of the official, spouse, or dependent child, and the official, spouse, and dependent children are not grantors, have contributed no assets, and have no authority over a trustee.
A supervising ethics office may grant an exemption for a family trust only if— (A) no covered person, or spouse or dependent child of a covered person— (i) is a grantor of the family trust; (ii) contributed any asset to the family trust; or (iii) has any authority over a trustee of the family trust, including the authority to appoint, replace, or direct the actions of such a trustee; and (B) the grantor of the family trust is or was a family member of the covered person, or the spouse or dependent child of the covered person.
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