Wildfire Event Contract Prohibition Act
Sponsored By: Representative Baumgartner, Michael [R-WA-5]
Introduced
Summary
Prohibits listing, clearing, or trading of contracts that bet on wildfire events on federally registered markets.
Show full summary
It would also require a federal review of authorities on profiting from wildfires and records congressional concern that such markets create improper incentives.
- Market operators and traders: Registered exchanges and clearinghouses would be barred from offering or clearing agreements, contracts, transactions, swaps, or indexes tied to wildfire ignition, occurrence, location, duration, intensity, size, spread, containment, evacuations, injury, death, or property damage.
- Communities and emergency response: The bill says wildfire event contracts can create incentives to profit from ignition or spread and may undermine public confidence in incident decisions and evacuations.
- Enforcement and oversight: The Attorney General must review federal criminal and civil authorities within 180 days and report findings and any legislative recommendations within 30 days after the review. The review would assess authorities for intentionally causing fires, trading on material nonpublic wildfire information, applicability of conspiracy, fraud, money-laundering and forfeiture laws, cross-border or digital platforms, coordination barriers, and whether new penalties or reporting tools are needed.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
1 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Ban on Wildfire-Linked Trading
If enacted, this bill would ban registered exchanges and clearinghouses from listing or clearing contracts tied to wildfires. It would bar any agreement, contract, transaction, or swap involving a wildfire event or any index, measure, value, data, occurrence, extent, or contingency based on a wildfire. The ban covers ignition, occurrence, location, duration, intensity, size, spread, containment, evacuations, injuries or deaths, and property damage from wildfires. The ban would start upon enactment and would remove niche trading products and limit some investor options on registered markets.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Baumgartner, Michael [R-WA-5]
WA • R
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov