San Diego County Supervisors Advance Lobbying Ban, Insider Trading Policy

SAN DIEGO, CA — The San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to advance an "anti-corruption" measure that would feature a two-year ban on post-employment lobbying and restrictions on using betting platforms, such as Kalshi, for insider trading.

Based on a proposal from board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, county staff will return Dec. 8 with a formal lobbying ban policy and first phase of prediction-market restrictions, according to her office.

Lawson-Remer unveiled the measure in August and supervisors voted for county staff to begin working on the policy.

During the summer, she cited examples of why the county needs ethical safeguards, including:

-- A U.S. Army soldier being arrested for allegedly making over $400,000 on Polymarket using classified government information;

-- nine Polymarket accounts reportedly making $2.4 million betting on recent U.S. military action in Iran;

-- the U.S. Senate barring senators and Senate employees from participating in them;

-- the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform formally investigating potential insider trading on prediction-market platforms; and

-- Gov. Gavin Newsom banning state gubernatorial appointees from using confidential information to profit on prediction markets.

Also in August, a White House teleprompter operator used advance access to President Donald Trump's speeches "to make more than $100,000 betting on what the president would say," according to Lawson-Remer. "Federal regulators ordered him to forfeit his profits, pay a $65,000 penalty and stop trading for three years."

There is no county ordinance prohibiting former officials from lobbying their former offices.

``Under current state law, only a limited group of county officials face a one-year ban on paid lobbying after leaving office," according to Lawson- Remer's office.

In a statement following the Tuesday vote, Lawson-Remer said public service ``should never become a private payday."

``You shouldn't be able to leave government on Friday and get paid to lobby your former coworkers on Monday," she added. ``And you shouldn't be able to use confidential information the public doesn't have to make yourself richer."

According to Lawson-Remer's office, the new policy would ``cover trades through certain family accounts, require disclosure of potential conflicts and prohibit former employees from trading on matters they personally worked on for two years."

Prediction market restrictions ``would ultimately cover all county employees, beginning with unclassified employees and expanding to classified employees following required labor negotiations," her office added.

— City News Service