Rep. Kevin Hern, a Republican from Oklahoma, appears to have failed to properly disclose millions of dollars worth of stock and corporate-security trades during the past year, which would be a violation of a federal transparency law, according to a NOTUS analysis of congressional financial records.
Since early 2025, Hern appears to have been late disclosing at least $4.2 million, and at the most, $17.6 million, in stock and corporate-security trades, according to his financial trade disclosure reports and the use of the House Ethics Committee’s online calculator for determining when a lawmaker, by law, must publicly disclose a personal financial trade.
Hern appears to have ultimately disclosed his personal stock and corporate-security trades as required by federal law. But he was anywhere from two to 12 days late across 10 trades based on when he disclosed becoming aware of trades made on his behalf. He meanwhile disclosed other trades on time, per federal rules.
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In a statement to NOTUS, Hern’s office said, “The filings aren’t late.”
Numerous federal lawmakers have violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act’s disclosure provisions in recent months, including Sens. Markwayne Mullin and Katie Britt and Reps. Linda Sánchez of California, Julia Letlow of Louisiana, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Lisa McClain of Michigan, Pat Ryan of New York, Sheri Biggs of South Carolina, Donald Norcross of New Jersey, Rich McCormick of Georgia, Ritchie Torres of New York, Troy Nehls of Texas, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, George Whitesides of California, Val Hoyle of Oregon, Austin Scott of Georgia, Shri Thanedar of Michigan and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Scott Franklin of Florida.
President Donald Trump also violated the STOCK Act’s disclosure provisions, too, this year, and paid an unspecified fine, according to the nonprofit newsroom Sludge.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Trump nominated Mullin to replace Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security, which prompted Hern to confirm his interest in Mullin’s Senate seat.
“Oh, absolutely,” Hern told NOTUS on Thursday when asked if he was considering a run for the Senate.
There are two related disclosure deadlines for federal lawmakers who personally trade stocks.
The STOCK Act first states that members of Congress must disclose stock, bond, corporate-security, cryptocurrency and certain other financial transactions worth more than $1,000 within 30 days of being notified of the transaction — either because the lawmaker personally made the trade or because someone else, such as a lawmaker’s spouse or financial adviser, alerted them to a trade being made on their behalf.
Secondly, lawmakers are ultimately responsible for disclosing their trades no more than 45 days after a transaction, regardless of when they became aware of their trades.
A report “must be filed by the earlier of these two dates: (a) 30 days from being made aware of the transaction or (b) 45 days from the transaction. In other words, periodic transaction reporting is subject to two different deadlines depending on when or if you receive notification,” the House Ethics Committee states in a guidance memorandum to House members.
In one instance, Hern disclosed purchasing $250,001 to $500,000 worth of corporate securities in the Royal Bank of Canada on Jan. 7, and affirmed in a signed congressional disclosure that he was notified of the purchase on Jan. 8. But he did not file that disclosure until Feb. 18, more than a week after the STOCK Act’s 30-day requirement for making such a disclosure.
Similarly, Hern disclosed selling a Citigroup corporate security worth anywhere from $500,001 to $1 million on Dec. 3, 2024. He affirmed to Congress that he was notified of the trade on Dec. 4, 2024. He then made his disclosure on Jan. 15, 2025 — days after Congress’ 30-day disclosure requirement for such a situation.
Whether federal lawmakers personally make trades or not, lawmakers are also themselves responsible for filing these reports on time, according to House Ethics guidance.
“You are personally responsible for incomplete and inaccurate information contained in your [financial reports], regardless of who assisted in preparation,” according to the House Ethics Committee.
“Congressman Hern files his [disclosure reports] no later than 30 days after receiving notification from his financial advisor, and in compliance with the 45-day transaction activity requirement,” a spokesperson for Hern’s office told NOTUS in a statement. “It is well documented that Congressman Hern has no involvement in the purchasing or selling of stocks, nor in the preparation of reports for the Public Transaction Report (PTR) system.”
Hern’s office did not respond to a request for comment on what documentation exists that shows the congressman has no involvement in his own stock trades.
Tom Rust, the staff director and chief counsel of the House Ethics Committee, declined to comment on Hern’s stock disclosures.
Congress passed the STOCK Act, in an effort to stop insider trading and defend against financial conflicts of interest, particularly because of the information members are privy to in Congress.
Hern serves on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, a jurisdiction that includes “health care, health delivery systems, or health research.”
Hern himself owns a handful of health-care and medical-technology stocks, including Johnson & Johnson, UnitedHealth, Masimo Corporation and Boston Scientific.
“It’s a conflict of interest that, if they were in a different branch of government, would require their recusal from weighing in on matters that have a direct impact on those interests,” Donald Sherman, the president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told NOTUS.
At present, it’s not illegal for members of Congress to trade individual stocks, including those of companies in industries for which their committees have oversight responsibilities.
But Congress is actively considering legislation that would bar members and their immediate family members from trading stock at all.
One of these bills, the House Speaker Mike Johnson-backed Stop Insider Trading Act, received the president’s endorsement at this year’s State of the Union address.
The bill would bar members and their families from buying individual stocks from publicly traded companies and would require at least a seven-day notice before stocks are sold.
Critics of the Stop Insider Trading Act, including many Democrats, argue it doesn’t go far enough.
An alternative, bipartisan bill, the Restore Trust in Congress Act, would prevent members and their families from buying or selling individual stocks, force them to divest current stock holdings and enforce steeper fines for breaking the law. Yet another bill, the Democrat-backed Restore Trust in Government Act, would extend restrictions beyond Congress to the executive branch.
“When you see a member of Congress who owns stock that is under the jurisdiction of their committee, know that the public is going to question that the decisions that they make on that committee are intended to protect their own stock portfolio or the interest of their constituents,” Kedric Payne, the vice president and senior director for ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, told NOTUS.
“The Democratic version is designed not to pass by covering Trump and the presidency,” said Craig Holman, a government-affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. “Johnson’s bill is just in name only and is a pathetic effort to appear to capture a problem when it entirely sidesteps the problem.”
This is not the first time that Hern has found himself crosswise with the STOCK Act in his seven years in Congress.
In 2021, Hern failed to properly disclose as much as $2.7 million worth of stock trades, according to Business Insider.
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