Bill lets people choose to sue instead of forced dispute settlement.
S. 4937 — Investor Choice Act of 2026 · Filed by Jeff Merkley (D-OR) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 24, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill stops brokers and dealers from forcing people into dispute settlement. It stops investment advisers and public companies from doing this too. People can now choose whether to settle disputes privately or sue in court. Companies cannot list stocks or register with the SEC if they force dispute settlement. This applies to shareholder deals.
Who it affects
Ordinary people who buy stocks gain the right to sue in court. They can also join group lawsuits instead of settling disputes privately. Brokers, dealers, advisers, and public companies must follow the new rules.
One thing to notice
Old dispute settlement deals made before this bill becomes law stay valid. Some people keep private settlement while new people can sue in court.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Democrats.
- Jun 24, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jun 24, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- dispute settlement — A private process where a neutral person decides a disagreement instead of a court.
- brokers — People or companies that buy and sell stocks for other people.
- dealers — Companies that buy and sell stocks and other investments.
- SEC — The Securities and Exchange Commission, the government agency that oversees stock markets.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,483 characters) on Aug 19, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
“Bill lets people choose to sue instead of forced dispute settlement.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s4937/simple Report an error