Campaign Event Contract Integrity Act
HB8771, titled the Campaign Event Contract Integrity Act, would create federal restrictions on trading in political event contracts by people closely connected to political campaigns. The bill bars covered campaign-affiliated individuals—such as campaign staff, consultants, vendors, volunteers with access to confidential information, and certain family members—from buying, selling, or otherwise trading these contracts while knowingly in possession of material nonpublic campaign information. It also prohibits tipping or disclosing such information when it is reasonably foreseeable that it could be used for trading, and it blocks others from trading on behalf of a covered person to evade the law.
The bill defines political event contracts broadly to include financial instruments tied to election outcomes, nominations, control of Congress, legislative approval, and other political or governmental events designated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It also defines material nonpublic campaign information to include internal polling, turnout projections, voter targeting data, fundraising information, campaign strategy, opposition research, internal analytics, endorsement information, and withdrawal or suspension plans. In addition to individual trading restrictions, the bill requires covered platforms to adopt compliance systems, monitor suspicious activity, collect disclosures from certain traders, and report suspicious activity to the CFTC, which would be directed to issue implementing rules within 180 days.
The bill would add a new federal regulatory framework aimed at preventing insider trading and manipulation in prediction markets tied to politics. It would not replace existing securities, commodities, campaign finance, ethics, or anti-corruption laws, but would operate alongside them and preserve the CFTC’s existing authority under the Commodity Exchange Act. Covered platforms facilitating political event contracts would face new recordkeeping, surveillance, disclosure, and reporting obligations, and violators could face civil penalties, disgorgement, and trading bans, with possible criminal referrals for willful misconduct or fraud.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes, the measure appears to be framed as a market-integrity and anti-corruption proposal rather than a partisan election-policy bill. Its structure suggests an intent to protect confidence in political prediction markets while preserving lawful analysis and journalism based on public information. Because there are no transcripts or vote results provided, there is no documented committee sentiment in the available record beyond the bill’s preventive and enforcement-oriented design.
The main points of potential contention are the breadth of the covered-person definition, the scope of information treated as nonpublic campaign data, and the regulatory burden placed on prediction market platforms. Campaign professionals, vendors, and even immediate family members with access to confidential information could be swept into the prohibition, which may raise concerns about overbreadth and enforceability. Another likely issue is the CFTC’s role in defining additional covered information and setting disclosure thresholds, which gives the agency substantial discretion over a politically sensitive market. Supporters would likely emphasize anti-insider-trading protections, while critics may worry about chilling legitimate political analysis or limiting lawful participation in event-contract markets.