Thursday, December 5, 2019

House Meets at… Votes Predicted at…
10:00 a.m. Morning Hour
12:00 p.m. Legislative Business
Fifteen “One Minutes” Per Side		 First/Last Votes: 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

 

ANY ANTICIPATED MEMBER ABSENCES FOR VOTES TODAY SHOULD BE REPORTED IMMEDIATELY TO THE OFFICE OF THE MAJORITY WHIP AT 6-3210.

Floor Schedule and Procedure:

H.Res. 741 – Rule Providing for Consideration of H.Res. 326 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United States efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a negotiated two-state solution (Rep. Lowenthal – Foreign Affairs) and H.R. 4 – Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 (Rep. Sewell – Judiciary)

Complete Consideration of H.R. 2534 – Insider Trading Prohibition Act (Rep. Himes – Financial Services)

This bill codifies the SEC’s rules and case law to create a federal statute prohibiting insider trading. The bill makes it unlawful for a person to trade while aware of material, non-public information if that person knows, or recklessly disregards, that the information was obtained wrongfully, or that making that trade would constitute a wrongful use of that information. This includes instances in which the trading or communication of such information is wrongful, such as situations based on breaches of fiduciary duty, contractual violations, and violations of federal law. The bill also prohibits those with material, nonpublic information from passing along that information to others, or tipping them, if it’s reasonably foreseeable that the recipient of the information will trade on that information or pass it along to others who will.

Click here for a fact sheet from the House Committee on Financial Services.

The Rule, which was adopted today, provides for one hour of general debate and makes in order the following amendments:

McHenry Amendment
This amendment will remove unnecessary ambiguities, clarify the intent of the bill to reflect existing insider trading case law, and ensure that the bill preserves the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ability to bring bad actors to justice under other related insider trading laws.

Huizenga Amendment
This amendment replaces the bill’s standard of illegal insider trading while “aware of” material nonpublic information with trading while “using” material nonpublic information. This narrower standard is inconsistent with current law, would severely weaken the bill, and would create substantial enforcement hurdles to the benefit of insiders and detriment of the SEC, which would have to prove that the reason the defendant traded was because of a specific piece of information.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope…”

Robert F. Kennedy