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
To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to prohibit wildfire event contracts on prediction markets, and for other purposes.
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.