YourVoice.Now Summary
Transparency & AccountabilityCivil LibertiesHigh-Earner BenefitsTargeted & Unrelated ProvisionsCongress, the President and Vice President would sell their stocks, and all trades would go online.
Transparency & Accountability
Members of Congress, the President, and the Vice President could not buy or hold individual stocks, crypto, commodities, or futures. Stakes held through a fund, a holding company, a trust, or a pay deal count too.
Today an official can hand assets to an independent trustee instead of selling them. Under this bill those trusts would have to sell their covered holdings and shut down, and the list of assets becomes public.
Federal loans, contracts, and grants going to an official, their family, or a business they own would have to be reported to the ethics office within 30 days. The ethics office then posts the report on its website.
The House and Senate would have to put disclosure and trade reports in databases you can search, sort, and download. You could look up a filer by name, asset, ticker symbol, amount, or date, and outside software could pull the data.
Anyone required to file trade reports would owe $500 for each report they miss, starting March 31, 2027. The wording overrides other law, so ethics offices could not waive the fine.
An official who keeps a banned asset after a written warning is fined every 30 days until they sell. Each fine is a month's pay or 10 percent of the asset's value, whichever is larger.
There is no fixed number of days to finish selling. The clock runs out when the officeholder starts a new term, which for a senator can be years after the law passes.
Civil Liberties
The rules reach people who hold no office. A spouse or a child under 19 would have to sell their own covered holdings, though a guardian may keep up to $10,000 for a child.
High-Earner Benefits
Officials made to sell could move the money into broad funds and put off the tax on their gains. Executive branch appointees already get this treatment; the bill extends it to Congress, the President, and the Vice President.
Targeted & Unrelated Provisions
An official could keep a stake in a small business, including a family farm or ranch, if the ethics office finds no conflict. For a farm, futures and commodities tied to its own products can stay too.
Investment-grade corporate bonds held on the day the law passes are left out of the ban. Bonds bought after that day would not be allowed.
More about this bill
Your own taxes, bills, and paperwork would not change. What would change is what senior officials can own, and what you can look up about it. Members of Congress, the President, and the Vice President could not own individual stocks. The ban also covers crypto, commodities, futures, and options tied to them. It reaches stakes held through a fund, a holding company, a trust, or a pay deal. Spouses and children under 19 fall under the same rules. Broad mutual funds, broad exchange-traded funds, and Treasury bonds stay allowed. So do state and city bonds and government retirement plans. Buying would stop the day the bill became law. Selling would be limited 90 days later, apart from sales made to comply. The deadline to finish selling is not a fixed date. It arrives when the officeholder starts a new term. House terms run two years. Senate terms run six. So for some senators the deadline is years away. Blind trusts would no longer count as a substitute. Existing ones would have to sell their covered holdings and close. Officials made to sell could delay the tax on their gains. They would have to move the money into broad funds. Some holdings would stay allowed. These include corporate bonds already owned and Alaska Native settlement stock. Small business and family farm stakes can stay if the ethics office clears them. Enforcement sits with the ethics office that oversees each official. After a written warning, an official who still holds a banned asset is fined every 30 days. Each fine is a month's pay or 10 percent of the asset's value, whichever is more. Officials would also report federal loans, contracts, and grants going to their family or family businesses. Those reports would be posted online. A separate $500 fine would apply to each late trade report, starting March 31, 2027. The text makes that fine mandatory, so ethics offices could not waive it. Within 18 months the House and Senate would have to post these filings in a searchable database. You could sort by name, asset, ticker symbol, amount, and date. You could download the data or pull it with your own software.
Congressional Summary
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. 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.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Reported to Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-12-10
- Date Added
- 2026-07-29
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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