Up to 95% of Mainers Want a Stock Ban Collins Resists After Her Own Violation
Collins co-wrote the law barring lawmakers from trading on inside information, but opposes a tougher bill after admitting she broke it in 2026.
Momentum is building among lawmakers in both parties to toughen a 2012 anti-corruption law that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins helped author, even though she herself acknowledged violating it earlier in 2026, the Bangor Daily News reported.
Collins and the late Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut wrote the measure, known as the STOCK Act, which Congress passed with wide bipartisan backing and President Barack Obama signed in 2012. It keeps lawmakers from trading on nonpublic information picked up through their jobs and gives them 45 days to disclose any trades, yet a violation draws only a $200 fine that ethics panels frequently forgive, and no lawmaker has ever faced prosecution over it.
Earlier in June, Reps. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, a Democrat, and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a Republican, unveiled a joint proposal that would forbid individual stock trades and wagers on prediction markets by Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court alike. Survey data referenced in the report put support for such a ban at 86% among Americans overall and as high as 95% among Mainers.
Collins has pushed back against calls for a stricter law, arguing regulators simply need to enforce the current rules more aggressively. She has admitted to her own lapse: a five-day delay in reporting that someone managing her husband's money bought as much as $50,000 in Pfizer bonds.
This story was first reported by Bangor Daily News.
