[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10109 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10109
To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to prohibit wildfire event
contracts on prediction markets, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 17, 2026
Mr. Baumgartner introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on the
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to prohibit wildfire event
contracts on prediction markets, and for other purposes.
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 ``Wildfire Event Contract Prohibition
Act''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON WILDFIRE EVENT CONTRACTS.
Section 5c(c)(5) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 7a-
2(c)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(D) Prohibition on wildfire event contracts.--
``(i) In general.--Notwithstanding any
other provision of this section, no agreement,
contract, transaction, or swap involving a
matter described in clause (ii) (or any index,
measure, value, or data related thereto, or
occurrence, extent of an occurrence, or
contingency based thereon) may be listed or
made available for clearing or trading on or
through a registered entity.
``(ii) Matter described.--The matter
referred to in clause (i) is any wildfire
event, including the ignition, occurrence,
location, duration, intensity, size, spread,
containment, evacuation resulting from, injury
or death caused by, or property damage
resulting from a wildfire.''.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) wildfire event contracts create an improper financial
incentive to profit from the ignition, spread, duration, and
destructive effects of a wildfire;
(2) such contracts may undermine public confidence in
emergency-response decisions and create opportunities to
exploit material nonpublic information concerning wildfire
conditions, incident operations, evacuation orders, or
containment activities;
(3) federally regulated markets should not facilitate
gambling on the destruction of homes, businesses, natural
resources, or communities; and
(4) nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this Act
preempts a State law that regulates or prohibits gambling or
gaming.
SEC. 4. REVIEW OF EXISTING AUTHORITIES RELATING TO WILDFIRE EVENT
TRADING.
(a) Review.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Chairman of
the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Secretary of Agriculture,
the Secretary of the Interior, and the heads of such other Federal
agencies as the Attorney General determines appropriate, shall conduct
a review of existing Federal criminal and civil authorities relating to
conduct undertaken for the purpose of influencing, exploiting, or
profiting from a wildfire event through an event contract or other
wager.
(b) Matters Included.--The review under subsection (a) shall
include an assessment of--
(1) Federal criminal and civil authorities applicable to an
individual who intentionally causes, attempts to cause, or
conspires with another person to cause a wildfire for the
purpose of influencing the outcome of, or profiting from, an
event contract or other wager;
(2) Federal criminal and civil authorities applicable to an
individual who trades on the basis of material nonpublic
information relating to a wildfire event, including information
regarding ignition, fire behavior, incident response,
evacuation, or containment;
(3) the applicability of Federal conspiracy, aiding-and-
abetting, fraud, market-manipulation, money-laundering,
forfeiture, and illegal gambling authorities to conduct
described in paragraphs (1) and (2);
(4) the ability of Federal agencies to investigate and
pursue conduct involving offshore prediction-market platforms,
digital assets, or other cross-border means of placing or
facilitating wagers on wildfire events;
(5) barriers to coordination among the Department of
Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal
land-management agencies, State and local law enforcement
agencies, and wildfire incident-management personnel; and
(6) whether additional legislation, including enhanced
penalties, forfeiture authorities, reporting requirements, or
information-sharing authorities, is necessary to deter and
prosecute such conduct.
(c) Report.--Not later than 30 days after completing the review
required under subsection (a), the Attorney General shall submit to the
Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Agriculture of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary and the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a
report describing the findings of the review and any legislative
recommendations.
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