WASHINGTON, DC — Legislation introduced by Congressman Warren Davidson (OH-08) H.R. 3973 “The Market Data Protection Act,” passed the U.S. House of Representatives by voice vote on Monday.

“The message that this bill sends is government agencies should lead by example. I want to thank my colleagues in the House for their support and ask the Senate to swiftly pass this bill to President Trump to sign into law,” said Rep. Warren Davidson.

This bipartisan bill directs the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and others to accelerate cybersecurity risk controls to prevent future hacker attacks.

The Market Data Protection Act of 2017 H.R. 3973 is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D, CA-30) and supported by the Financial Services Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Market Data Protection Act of 2017, H.R. 3973 would amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) and the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) operator to develop internal risk controls to safeguard and govern market data stored by those entities, market data sharing agreements, and “academic research performed at [these entities] using market data.” The Act further: a) prohibits the CAT operator from accepting market data until these controls are developed, and b) relieves CAT participants from any requirement to provide market data, during the period in which the operator is prohibited from receiving it.