S. 1498 119th Congress Senate

Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act

Official title: A bill to amend chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, to prohibit transactions involving certain financial instruments by Members of Congress.

Introduced: April 28, 2025 Introduced by: Josh Hawley Republican · Missouri See on congress.gov

Congress Civil actions and liabilityCommodities marketsCongressional oversightFamily relationships

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Financial services and investmentsGovernment ethics and transparency, public corruptionGovernment information and archivesGovernment studies and investigationsMembers of CongressSecurities

Everywhere this bill has been 5 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Dec 10, 2025

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Paul with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.

Dec 10, 2025

Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 294.

Jul 30, 2025

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

Apr 28, 2025

Introduced in Senate

Apr 28, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

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What's happening now December 10, 2025

Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 294.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

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.

Hearings & markups 1

Business meeting to consider S.854, to amend title 31, United States Code, to establish the Life Sciences Research Secu…
Meeting Jul 30, 2025 · 10:00 AM EDT · Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Bill text 2 versions

Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
Reported to Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
Senate

Lobbying activity 4

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER, INC.
for CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER, INC. · District of Columbia · 1st Quarter 2026 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)
CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER, INC.
for CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER, INC. · District of Columbia · 4th Quarter 2025 (Oct 1 - Dec 31)
P STREET PROJECT, INC.
for P STREET PROJECT, INC. · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2025 (July 1 - Sep 30)
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL U.S. (A PROJECT OF THE FUND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVT)
for TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL U.S. (A PROJECT OF THE FUND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVT) · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2025 (July 1 - Sep 30)

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

Cosponsors 5

Cortez Masto, Catherine

Nevada · Apr 28, 2026

Merkley, Jeff

Oregon · Dec 9, 2025

Ossoff, Jon

Georgia · Jul 30, 2025

Peters, Gary C.

Michigan · Jul 30, 2025

Moreno, Bernie

Ohio · Apr 28, 2025

Cite this page click to expand

APA

U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 1498: Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1498/

MLA

"S. 1498: Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1498/.

Bluebook (legal)

S. 1498, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1498/.

Markdown link

[S. 1498: Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1498/)