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☆ Democrat Tina Kotek faces off against Republican Christine Drazan in Oregon's gubernatorial election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Democrat Tina Kotek is running against Republican Christine Drazan, independent Betsy Johnson, and three others in Oregon's gubernatorial race. Just months after being elected, she was chosen by her peers to become the state House minority leader. While serving as the Republican leader of the Oregon House, Drazan opposed the governor's emergency COVID-19 orders and fought against implementing additional taxes. Prior to personally serving in office, Drazan was the chief of staff for Oregon House Speaker Mark Simmons. Her opponent, Drazan, has raised $17 million and spent nearly $16.3 million, while Johnson has raised just over $16.9 million and spent $16.1 million.

☆ U.S. lawmakers slam Wall Street bankers' plan to attend Hong Kong summit
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Michael Martina | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Two U.S. lawmakers on Thursday urged top American bankers to cancel their planned attendance at a Hong Kong financial summit next week, saying their participation would contribute to Chinese government rights abuses. Hong Kong officials hope the event will signal a re-opening from COVID-19 border restrictions, but it has raised the ire of Hong Kong activists after authorities used a national security law to stifle dissent in the former British colony. The State Department last year warned U.S. businesses of civil and criminal penalties should they violate U.S. sanctions by "engaging in certain transactions" with sanctioned Hong Kong and Chinese officials. Hong Kong reverted to Chinese from British rule in 1997 with the guarantee of a high degree of autonomy, which critics say Beijing has significantly eroded. Republicans, who hope to win control of Congress in November midterm elections, have also slammed executives for their plans to attend the Hong Kong event.

☆ Josh Hawley says Republicans should ban congressional stock trading as their top priority in 2023 after Democratic efforts falter
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hawley says GOP leaders should make banning congressional stock trading their top priority. Congressional Democrats have floated various trading bans but haven't found a unifying fix. How about Congress pass an actual stock trading ban?" Fellow stock trading ban advocate Sen. Jeff Merkley announced a few weeks earlier that Senate Democrats were punting their own compromise bundle into the lame-duck session. Hawley's stock trading proposal, which only applies to congressional members and their spouses, currently has no cosponsors and is less comprehensive than many of the languishing Democratic proposals.

☆ The Teen Mental Health Industry Is Failing Them - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Alexander Stockton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +26 min

Sometimes they are treated in ways that are illegal to treat prisoners, let alone kids seeking mental health treatment. But former patients from residential treatment facilities whom Times Opinion interviewed said they received one-on-one therapy only once a week, if that. The company owns dozens of hospitals and hundreds of behavioral health facilities and makes about $11 billion a year. In 2017, when he was 15 years old, his mother, Renee Hanania, sent him to a UHS facility in Virginia. America’s patchwork mental health treatment is still insufficient.

The debt ceiling is going to be an important tool," Carter told Reuters. "I try not to think about it," he said referring to a possible debt limit battle. 'EXTENDED DEBATE'Debate about the debt ceiling could flare again early next year, after the new Congress is sworn in. "There is likely to be an extended debate" on the debt limit next year no matter who wins the midterms, said Akabas, who has seen several such battles waged. McConnell avoided answering a question about the 2023 debt limit debate, saying: "We haven't even finished 2022 yet."

☆ A top Wall Street analyst says cannabis-banking reform is far more likely than many investors think. Here are the top 4 stocks he says to bet on.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Jeremy Berke | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Cantor Fitzgerald's Pablo Zuanic says a cannabis banking bill may pass before the end of the year. Passage of the SAFE Banking Act would give cannabis stocks a much-needed boost. A long-awaited cannabis-banking bill may pass in the lame-duck session of Congress this year, a top Wall Street analyst says. The bipartisan SAFE Banking Act is a narrow cannabis reform bill that would allow companies that sell or cultivate THC to access the banking system. Cory Booker and Ron Wyden, have previously opposed the SAFE Act proceeding ahead of more comprehensive, criminal-justice-focused cannabis reform.

☆ Nancy Pelosi's congressional stock trading ban has a massive blind trust loophole and is too broad, ethics experts warn
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

But ethics experts say the bill has a major loophole when it comes to blind trusts, and is too broad. Broadly speaking, a blind trust is a financial arrangement wherein people turn over their assets to be managed by an independent entity to prevent a conflict of interest. Several previously-introduced bills to ban stock trading allow for lawmakers to place their stocks into a blind trust, rather than fully selling off existing stock holdings. "You'd be able to create any kind of a trust you want to, put anything you want into it, and call it a blind trust, even though there wouldn't actually be any way to prove that it is, in fact, a blind trust." Payne also said the blind trust loophole was a "small risk," but that in an optimistic scenario, "that language allows this law to grow for future circumstances that you just can't be prepared for."

☆ The House may finally vote — next week — on legislation to ban members of Congress from trading stocks
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Bryan Metzger | Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

House Democrats just teed up a potential vote next week on a congressional stock trading ban. "Across the entire federal government, there have been significant stories regarding financial conflicts of interest in relation to stock trading and ownership," Lofgren wrote. A ban on senior government officials, including members of Congress and their immediate families, from trading cryptocurrencies. The House is voting for just 3 days next week, leaving little time for members to consider the new legislation. Several prominent proponents of a stock trading ban recently told Insider that they'd been largely left out of Democratic leadership's legislative plans.

☆ A House Republican and Democrat are introducing a bill that would require members of Congress to file financial disclosures electronically
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some members of Congress file financial disclosures that are basically illegible. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota are introducing the Easy to Read Electronic and Accessible Disclosures (READ) Act, which would allow users to search, sort, and download financial disclosure data filed by House members, Senators, and candidates for both chambers. "This means that government records, including financial disclosures filed by elected officials, must be easy to find and easy to understand." "These requirements will help bring critical transparency to the financial situation of members of Congress and more opportunity to spot potential conflicts of interest," added Hedtler-Gaudette. The bill comes amid a broader push to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.

☆ Nancy Pelosi says a congressional stock trading ban is coming this month, but skepticism abounds among key advocates: 'I can't say I'm confident'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Nancy Pelosi says that a bill to ban members of Congress from trading stocks is coming this month. "I'm concerned about the lack of detail as to what is being planned," said Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois is urging vigilance amid the potential rollout of legislation from Democratic leadership. "I think that coalescing is a very real internal dynamic," Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told Insider last week. "We have not heard exactly what's happening," said Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

☆ LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman visits Capitol Hill as the Saudi-backed league battles the PGA Tour
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Jack Stebbins | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

LIV CEO and commissioner Greg Norman watches play on the third hole during the final round of the LIV Golf Invitational Series Chicago at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois. LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman will be visiting Capitol Hill this week to meet with members of Congress, as the Saudi-backed league tangles with the PGA Tour. The LIV Golf league was founded as a competitor to the PGA Tour and is financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. LIV has already poached major golfers such as Phil Mickelson from the PGA Tour, and Norman himself is a former tour star. The LIV Saudi Golf League is not that.

☆ A powerful Oregon senator revealed a path forward for a long-awaited cannabis banking bill
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-08 | by ( Jeremy Berke | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley is bullish on the prospects for a cannabis banking bill ahead of the midterms. Previous versions of the bill, the SAFE Banking Act, have failed to pass Congress seven times. The bill would allow federally-chartered banks to work with cannabis companies, but wouldn't legalize cannabis federally. Merkley said that in the past, Democrats have opposed passing SAFE Banking because it didn't include those reforms. "So folks that should have been allies for SAFE Banking have been opposed in the past," Merkley said.

☆ Nancy Pelosi's husband just invested millions in 2 tech companies with lots at stake on Capitol Hill
▼ + stars: | 2021-07-12 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The House speaker's husband, Paul Pelosi, made two million-dollar stock trades. Pelosi's husband buys up more stocksHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, bought stocks in Google's parent company, Alphabet, and in Nvidia Corporation, which designs graphics-processing units for the gaming market. Drew Hammill, the speaker's spokesman, said she did not own any stock and complied with all disclosures, which require members of Congress to post stock trades for spouses and dependent children. Rep. Pat Fallon, a Republican from Texas, in a group photo with freshman members of the House Republican Conference on the House steps of the US Capitol on January 4. By federal law, members of Congress have 30 days from when they become aware of a stock trade to formally disclose it.

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