7 U.S.C. § 16 — Commission operations

(a) Cooperation with other agencies — The Commission may work together with any federal department or agency, any state or territory (or their subdivisions), any foreign futures regulator, any foreign government department or agency, or any person. (b) Employment of investigators, experts, judges, and other staff; contracts — (1) The Commission can hire investigators, special experts, Administrative Law Judges, clerks, and other employees as needed, as Congress funds them. (2) It can hire experts and consultants under section 3109 of title 5, paying them up to the maximum daily rate set for the old "GS–18" pay level under section 5332 of title 5. (3) It can sign contracts for anything the Commission judges necessary to carry out this chapter's purposes, including renting office space in Washington or elsewhere. (4) The Commission can request, and the Office of Personnel Management must grant, eight extra Senior Executive Service positions beyond what the Commission already had as of October 28, 1992. (c) Expenses — The Commission must pay the Commissioners' expenses, including necessary travel costs for official business, once they submit itemized, Commission-approved vouchers. (d) Authorization of appropriations — Congress can appropriate whatever money is necessary to run this chapter for fiscal years 2008 through 2013. (e) Relation to other law, departments, or agencies — (1) This chapter does not override: federal criminal prosecutions; other federal or state laws (with one exception, below) covering transactions not conducted on a registered exchange or exempt board of trade, not conducted on most foreign exchanges, or not subject to Commission regulation under section 6c or 23; or federal or state law applied to a person required to register under this chapter who refuses to do so. (2) The one exception: this chapter does override state or local laws against gaming or "bucket shops" (other than general anti-fraud laws) for certain excluded electronic trading facilities and for agreements or transactions excluded or exempted under specific sections of this chapter — no matter whether that agreement or transaction is otherwise covered by this chapter. (f) Investigative assistance to foreign futures authorities — (1) If a foreign futures regulator asks, the Commission can, at its discretion, help investigate whether someone has violated, is violating, or is about to violate futures or options rules that regulator enforces — the Commission can run its own investigation to gather relevant information, whether or not the same facts would violate U.S. law. (2) In deciding whether to help, the Commission considers whether the foreign regulator has agreed to help the Commission back, and whether helping would hurt the U.S. public interest. (3) The Commission can accept payment or reimbursement — cash or in-kind — from a foreign regulator (or someone acting for it) to cover the Commission's necessary costs of investigating or helping; any such payment counts as a reimbursement to the Commission's own budget. (g) Computerized futures trading — The Commission must help develop and run computerized trading systems alongside traditional open-outcry trading, consistent with its duties under section 22. It must also work with the U.S. Trade Representative and the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and State to remove foreign trade barriers against electronic trading systems. (h) Regulation of swaps as insurance under State law — A swap (1) is not to be treated as insurance, and (2) cannot be regulated as an insurance contract under any state's law.