Why a Congress trade disclosure can arrive weeks after the trade, and what the amount bands mean

The rule: two clocks, and the earlier one wins

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, known as the STOCK Act (Public Law 112-105), added a requirement to the Ethics in Government Act. Section 6 says that covered officials must file a report of a transaction "not later than 30 days after receiving notification of any transaction", but "in no case later than 45 days after such transaction".

The House Ethics Committee describes the same rule in plain words on its periodic transaction report page: transactions over $1,000 must be disclosed by the earlier of 30 days from being made aware of the transaction or 45 days from the transaction. The Committee publishes a calculator that takes the two dates.

That is why a report can arrive late in calendar terms and still be on time in legal terms. A member who places an order knows the same day, so the 30-day clock is the one that applies. A trade made in an account the member does not manage, such as one run by a spouse or an adviser, may be learned about later, and the 45-day limit is the backstop.

What is reported, and by whom

A periodic transaction report, or PTR, covers purchases, sales and exchanges of stocks, bonds and other securities owned by the member, a spouse or a dependent child when the amount is more than $1,000. The House's PTR form and instructions give each transaction one row with these columns: the owner, the asset, the type of transaction (purchase, sale, partial sale or exchange), the date of the transaction, the date the filer was notified, and the amount.

The owner column uses SP for spouse, DC for dependent child and JT for joint. Reports by House members are public on the House Clerk's financial disclosure site.

What the amount bands are

A PTR never states an exact amount. The form lists the bands and the filer ticks one:

• $1,001 - $15,000
• $15,001 - $50,000
• $50,001 - $100,000
• $100,001 - $250,000
• $250,001 - $500,000
• $500,001 - $1,000,000
• $1,000,001 - $5,000,000
• $5,000,001 - $25,000,000
• $25,000,001 - $50,000,000
• Over $50,000,000

A band is a range, not a number. A trade ticked at $1,001 - $15,000 could be $1,001 or $15,000, and the report does not say which. Taking the midpoint of a band invents a figure that was never filed, and adding midpoints together produces a total that does not exist in any filing. OQRO keeps every amount as the band the filer chose.

A real report, worked through

The report filed with the House Clerk on 9 May 2026 by Rep. Cliff Bentz (filing ID 20034524) has one transaction:

• Owner: SP, a spouse.
• Asset: Intel Corporation common stock (INTC).
• Type: S, a sale.
• Transaction date: 04/09/2026.
• Notification date: 05/04/2026.
• Amount: $1,001 - $15,000.
• Account: a Charles Schwab SEP-IRA, owner SP.

From those dates, the notification came 25 days after the transaction and the report was digitally signed 30 days after it, five days after notification. Applying the rule, 45 days from the transaction is 24 May 2026 and 30 days from notification is 3 June 2026. The earlier of the two is 24 May, and the report was filed before it. The form itself does not say whether a report is on time; the reader works that out from the dates.

Late fees

The same form says: "A $200 penalty shall be assessed against anyone who files more than 30 days late." The House Ethics Committee also publishes a late fee waiver request form on its financial disclosure forms page.

What a PTR does not tell you

It does not say who decided the trade. A sale in a spouse's retirement account and a sale a member placed personally look alike on the form, except for the owner column. It does not say why. It is not evidence that anyone used private information; that is a legal question a filing date cannot answer. And an amount band is not a position size: it describes one transaction, not what the member or the account holds in total.

How to use this

Read the owner, the type, both dates and the band. Count the days between the transaction and the filing yourself, or use the House calculator. If you are comparing sources, check that each one shows the band and not a single figure. OQRO's guide to the STOCK Act covers the rule, and its list of reports filed after the 45-day deadline is built from the dates on the filings.