H.R. 9989 — CITE Act of 2026

This section defines terms for the Act, including candidate (any individual formally seeking election to President, Vice President, Senate, or House); covered investment (securities such as stocks, bonds, options, and certain ETFs issued by publicly traded companies); covered individual (a candidate and the candidate’s spouse and dependent children); exempt investments (widely diversified mutual funds, broad-market index funds, Treasury securities, and defined-benefit pensions); filing date; qualified blind trust; and supervising ethics office (House Ethics Committee, Senate Ethics Committee, or Office of Government Ethics, depending on the office sought).

This section requires each covered individual to divest all covered investments or place them in a qualified blind trust within 90 days after the filing date. The trust must be managed by an independent trustee with no knowledge of or influence by the covered individual and no direct communications except as required by law or for tax purposes; the individual must certify compliance, including the trustee's name, to the supervising ethics office. It also directs good faith efforts to apply the same rules to assets of a spouse or dependent child, with an exemption available if the spouse maintains independent finances and refuses consent.

This section prohibits covered individuals from purchasing or otherwise acquiring new covered investments from the date they file as a candidate until they no longer hold or seek federal office. It provides exceptions for inheritances received through a will or trust, which must be divested or placed in a qualified blind trust within 90 days, and for purchases made within a qualified blind trust.

This section requires the Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives, the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate, and the Office of Government Ethics to each issue regulations within 180 days of enactment to implement the Act for candidates under their jurisdiction. The regulations must establish procedures for filing and reviewing certifications under section 3(c), standards for determining whether a trust qualifies as a qualified blind trust, and a process for covered individuals to request hardship waivers that may be granted only in extraordinary circumstances and must be made public.

This section preserves the full application of the STOCK Act of 2012 and other federal laws on insider trading, conflicts of interest, and financial disclosure. It also requires the Act to be construed together with chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, and existing financial disclosure rules for federal candidates.