H.R. 10109 — Wildfire Event Contract Prohibition Act

This section prohibits any agreement, contract, transaction, or swap based on a wildfire event—including its ignition, occurrence, location, duration, intensity, size, spread, containment, resulting evacuations, injuries, deaths, or property damage—from being listed or made available for clearing or trading on or through a registered entity under the Commodity Exchange Act.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that wildfire event contracts create improper financial incentives to profit from the ignition and spread of wildfires, may undermine public confidence in emergency-response decisions, and should not be facilitated in federally regulated markets. It states that the Act does not preempt state laws regulating or prohibiting gambling.

This section directs the Attorney General, in consultation with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman, the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior, and other agency heads, to review within 180 days existing federal criminal and civil authorities on influencing or profiting from wildfire events through event contracts or wagers. The review must assess authorities applicable to causing wildfires, trading on nonpublic wildfire information, conspiracy and market-manipulation laws, offshore platforms, coordination barriers, and the need for enhanced penalties or reporting requirements, with a report and legislative recommendations due to the House and Senate Judiciary and Agriculture committees within 30 days after completion.