[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3009 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3009

 To enhance transparency of trading in over-the-counter derivatives in 
                              natural gas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 12, 2007

Mr. Barrow (for himself and Mr. Graves) introduced the following bill; 
           which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To enhance transparency of trading in over-the-counter derivatives in 
                              natural gas.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Market Transparency Reporting of 
United States Transactions Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. OVER-THE-COUNTER TRANSACTIONS IN NATURAL GAS.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 1a of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 
U.S.C. 1a) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(34) Included natural gas transaction.--The term 
        `included natural gas transaction' means a contract, agreement, 
        or transaction in natural gas that is entered into--
                    ``(A) in reliance on the provisions of subsection 
                (g) or (h) of section 2; or
                    ``(B) by use of a domestic technology or software 
                providing direct access to a foreign board of trade.''.
    (b) Reporting of Excluded Transactions in Natural Gas.--Section 
2(g) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2(g)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or'' after ``5d,'';
            (2) by inserting ``, or paragraphs (4) and (5) of this 
        subsection (with respect to any contract, agreement, or 
        transaction in natural gas))'' after ``12(e)(2)''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) It shall be a violation of this subsection for any 
        person to enter into any contract, agreement, or transaction in 
        natural gas relying on the exemption provided in this 
        subsection if the person, directly or indirectly, has, obtains, 
        owns, controls, or maintains a position in a contract, 
        agreement, or transaction in natural gas equal to or in excess 
        of such amount as the Commission from time to time shall fix, 
        unless the person files or causes to be filed with the properly 
        designated officer of the Commission such reports as the 
        Commission may require by rule, regulation, or order with 
        respect to any position in any contract, agreement, or 
        transaction in natural gas described in this section.
            ``(5) Any person entering into any contract, agreement, or 
        transaction relying on the exemption provided in this 
        subsection shall maintain books and records relating to each 
        such transaction, showing complete details of the transactions, 
        positions, inventories, and commitments, including the names 
        and addresses of all persons having any interest therein, for a 
        period of 5 years, in such form as the Commission shall require 
        by rule, regulation, or order. The books and records shall be 
        open for inspection by any representative of the Commission or 
        of the Department of Justice.''.
    (c) Reporting of Exempt Transactions in Natural Gas.--Section 2(h) 
of such Act (7 U.S.C. 2(h)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by inserting ``and the persons that enter into 
                such a contract, agreement, or transaction'' after 
                ``subsection'';
                    (B) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph 
                (B);
                    (C) by striking the period at the end of 
                subparagraph (C) and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) paragraphs (7) and (8) of this section.'';
            (2) in paragraph (4)--
                    (A) by inserting ``and the persons that enter into 
                such a contract, agreement, or transaction'' after 
                ``subsection'';
                    (B) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph 
                (C);
                    (C) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 
                subparagraph (E) and inserting after subparagraph (C) 
                the following:
                    ``(D) paragraphs (7) and (8) of this section; 
                and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(7) It shall be a violation of this subsection for any 
        person to enter into any contract, agreement, or transaction in 
        natural gas relying on the exemption provided in this 
        subsection if the person, directly or indirectly, has, obtains, 
        owns, controls, or maintains a position in a contract, 
        agreement, or transaction in natural gas equal to or in excess 
        of such amount as the Commission from time to time shall fix, 
        unless the person files or causes to be filed, or with respect 
        to a contract, agreement, or transaction entered into on an 
        electronic trading facility, the electronic trading facility 
        files or causes to be filed on such person's behalf, with the 
        properly designated officer of the Commission, such reports as 
        the Commission may require by rule, regulation, or order with 
        respect to any position in such contracts, agreements, or 
        transactions in natural gas described in this section.
            ``(8) Any person entering into any contract, agreement, or 
        transaction in natural gas relying on the exemption provided in 
        this subsection shall maintain books and records relating to 
        each such transaction and showing complete details of such 
        transactions, positions, inventories, and commitments, 
        including the names and addresses of all persons having any 
        interest therein, for a period of 5 years, in such form as the 
        Commission shall require by rule, regulation, or order. The 
        records shall be open for inspection by any representative of 
        the Commission or of the Department of Justice.''.

SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE FILING OF REPORTS.

    The Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1-25) is amended by inserting 
after section 4p the following:

``SEC. 4Q. FILING OF REPORTS OF TRANSACTIONS IN NATURAL GAS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Commission shall establish a reporting 
system with respect to large positions in included natural gas 
transactions, as defined in section 1a(34), that a person may, directly 
or indirectly, have, obtain, own, control, or maintain.
    ``(b) Required Information.--Such required reports with respect to 
included natural gas transactions, as defined in section 1(a)(34), 
shall be in sufficient detail and with sufficient frequency to enable 
the Commission to assess the overall trading activities, potential 
market power, and concentration of positions directly or indirectly 
held, obtained, owned, controlled, or maintained by the largest traders 
and to assess these factors in relation to the amount of potential 
deliverable supplies in natural gas directly or indirectly held, 
obtained, owned, controlled or maintained by the traders and shall 
enable the Commission to aggregate the positions with respect to the 
person's separately owned or controlled accounts.
    ``(c) Confidentiality of Information.--The reports with respect to 
included natural gas transactions described in subsection (b) shall be 
subject to section 8.
    ``(d) Market Transparency.--The Commission shall publish on a 
regular basis a report or reports with respect to the information 
reported to it with respect to included natural gas transactions. The 
report or reports shall include on a summary basis information with 
respect to aggregate reportable positions held by commercial persons 
and noncommercial persons and may not reveal the specific identity or 
size of positions of individual persons.
    ``(e) Required Rules.--The Commission shall issue rules, 
regulations, or an order to implement this section within 270 days 
after the date of the enactment of this section.''.

SEC. 4. CRIMINAL AND CIVIL PENALTIES.

    (a) Civil Money Penalties.--Section 6(c) of the Commodity Exchange 
Act (7 U.S.C. 9, 15) is amended in clause (3) of the 10th sentence, by 
striking ``$100,000'' and inserting ``$500,000''.
    (b) Increase in Penalties.--Section 6c(d)(1) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 
13a-1(d)(1)) is amended by striking ``$100,000'' and inserting 
``$500,000''.
    (c) Criminal Penalties.--Section 9(a) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 13) is 
amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by inserting after 
``(or'' the following: ``for any violation other than manipulation or 
attempted manipulation of the price of any commodity in interstate 
commerce, or for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any 
registered entity, or the cornering or attempt to corner any such 
commodity or knowingly to deliver or cause to be delivered for 
transmission through the mails or interstate commerce by telegraph, 
telephone, wireless, or other means of communication false, misleading, 
or knowingly inaccurate reports concerning crop or market information 
or conditions that affect or tend to affect the price of any commodity 
in interstate commerce''.
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