The Secretary of Energy takes questions from the media at the White House.
The STOCK Act requires the Energy Secretary to report sales of stock worth up to $240,000 within 45 days, but she failed to do so at least nine times last year.
Business Insider reported that federal disclosure documents show the dates of Granholm's stock sales. The sale was not disclosed until mid-December, six months after the deadline to report the sale had passed.
Some of the stock sales were dated back as far as April of last year.
According to Granholm's disclosures, the transactions included shares of the real estate website Redfin worth between $16,000 and $75,000.
She sold her shares in both the ride hailing company and the financial services giant.
The accountability and reporting requirements for members of Congress and high-level employees of the Executive Branch were expanded by the STOCK Act.
Stock transactions must be reported no later than 45 days after the transaction is made. The form says that the filers have to report their transactions within 30 days of receiving notification.
She checked a box on her December forms that said it had been less than 30 days since she had been notified of the transactions. She appeared to be in violation of the actual deadline because she was in compliance with one part of the form.
Public figures and elected officials often turn over the management of their portfolios to outside advisers who make buying and selling decisions for them. It's not a valid justification to say you didn't know about a stock transaction.
A spokeswoman for the energy department told CNBC that Secretary Granholm's financial holdings are in compliance with the law.
She didn't answer questions about when the secretary was notified about the trades or why the disclosures were late.
Granholm was only notified about the stock sales in late November or December, since she was selling other stocks during the same time period in order to eliminate any potential conflicts of interest.
When President Joe Biden nominated her to be his energy secretary, Granholm signed an ethics agreement in which she agreed to give up part-time jobs at the University of California and CNN and sell millions of dollars worth of stock.
She reported 23 stock sales on March 22, many of them blue chip companies.
After exercising stock options in the electric bus and battery company Proterra, Granholm sold all her shares for between $1 million and $5 million on May 24.
In between the March blue chip sales and the May Proterra sale, Granholm made 6 of the 9 stock sales that didn't get disclosed until December.
It is at this time when stock sales by public officials and members of Congress are getting a fresh look.
Several members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, have introduced or re-introduced legislation that would effectively ban lawmakers and their immediate family members from actively trading stocks while the member is in office.
According to an analysis by Business Insider, 54 members of Congress violated the STOCK Act rules last year.
The public supports a ban. A survey commissioned by a conservative advocacy found that a majority of voters believed that lawmakers and their spouses had an unfair advantage in the stock market.
A survey done by the Convention of States Action found that only 5% of voters approved of members of Congress trading stocks.
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