According to today’s Wall Street Journal, it appears that Congress will agree on a version of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 (the “STOCK Act”) in the next week. So far, each of the House and the Senate has passed a version of the STOCK Act, with one of the most notable differences in the Senate and House versions centering around the treatment of “political intelligence firms,” which gather information about pending legislation for their clients, typically hedge funds and other market participants. The Senate bill requires political intelligence firms to register and report on their activities in a manner similar to lobbyists but the House bill does not. According to The Wall Street Journal article, the Senate intends to pass the House version of the bill, which means that the political intelligence firm registration provisions will not make it into the final bill.
Continue reading “Is the STOCK Act Headed to the President’s Desk?”