1. The STOCK Act of 2012
and the
Purposes of Transparency
Kathleen Clark
Chicago-Kent College of Law
April 30, 2013

2. STOCK Act of 2012
Stop
Trading
On
Congressional
Knowledge

3. Purpose
“prevent
members and employees
of Congress
from trading on the basis of
nonpublic information
acquired through such positions”

4. 60 Minutes

5. Insider Trading
by
Members of Congress

6. STOCK Act of 2012

7. scandal

ethics regulation

8. Insider Trading
Already Illegal

9. Role
of
Transparency
in
Government
Ethics

10. Different legal rules
for
legislative
&
executive
branches

11. Federal Conflict of Interest Statute
Applies to Executive Branch
Not to Congress

12. Federal Financial Disclosure
Assets
Income
Transactions
Liabilities
Gifts
Outside / Future Jobs

13. Federal Financial Disclosure
Congress:
Members & senior staff
Executive branch:
28,000 employees

14. Federal Financial Disclosure
28,000 - Publicly available
-- but with hurdles
300,000 – Not publicly available

15. Specific Reforms:
Timely transaction reports
Searchable sortable database of
• Congress:
-Members
-Highly paid staff
• 28,000 Exec. branch employees

16. Purposes of
federal
financial discosure
Accountability:
- political – Congress
- legal - Executive Branch

17. Purposes of
massive online
financial discosure
Accountability:
- political
- legal - Executive Branch
Preventing theft
Transparency

18. Public disclosure – with hurdles
v.
Web-based disclosure
searchable & sortable

19. Controversial
- Politically
- Legally

20. Concerns
•Identity theft
•Identifying spies
•Privacy

21. Senior
Executive
Association
v.
United States

22. Sensitive
Personal
Financial
Information

23. S.E.A. v U.S.
Granted preliminary injunction
Denied govt’s motion to dismiss

24. Revised
Gutted (?)
STOCK
Act

25. Web-based disclosure for:
- Members of Congress
- Senate-confirmed executive
branch officials
No searchable sortable database

26. The STOCK Act of 2012
and the
Purposes of Transparency
Kathleen Clark
kathleen_clark@mac.com
Chicago-Kent College of Law
April 30, 2013