Testimony Before the House Committee on House Administration

James R. Copland testified in a hearing titled Taking Stock of the STOCK Act

Watch the full testimony here.

Chairman Steil, Ranking Member Morelle, and Members, thank you for the opportunity to testify before this Committee. My name is James R. Copland. Since 2003, I have been affiliated with the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a nonprofit public-policy think tank in New York City, where I have long been a senior fellow and directed the Institute’s legal policy research. Although my comments draw upon such research conducted for my employer, my statement before the Committee is solely my own.

In Part I of this written testimony, I will describe the basic contours of federal insider trading law. In Part II, I will discuss the 2012 STOCK Act, which placed insider-trading-type limits on Members of Congress and certain other employees and established enhanced disclosure requirements. Part III discusses briefly various bills that have been introduced, each designed to heighten limitations on Congressional stock ownership and trading. Part IV discusses the alternatives and concludes.

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James R. Copland is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and director of Legal Policy.