[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 234 (Wednesday, December 6, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62469-62471]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-29723]
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OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS
Submission of Proposed Modified Form for Executive Branch
Confidential Financial Disclosure Reporting to OMB for Approval Under
the Paperwork Reduction Act
AGENCY: Office of Government Ethics (OGE).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Office of Government Ethics has submitted a proposed new
OGE Form 450 for confidential financial disclosure reporting under its
executive branch regulations for approval by the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act. This new form will
replace the existing Standard Form (SF) 450.
DATES: Comments on this proposal should be received by January 5, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Joseph F. Lackey, Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget,
New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503;
telephone: 202-395-7316.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Gressman, Office of the
General Counsel and Legal Policy, Office of Government Ethics, 1201 New
York Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20005-3917; telephone: 202-523-5757
(ext. 1110), FAX: 202-523-6325. A copy of OGE's draft form, as well as
the rest of OGE's paperwork submission package to OMB, may be obtained,
without charge, by contacting Mr. Gressman.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Government Ethics is
submitting a proposed new OGE Form 450 Executive Branch Confidential
Financial Disclosure Report for three-year approval by OMB under the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35). On September 1,
1995, OGE published an advance paperwork notice of the proposed new OGE
Form 450 (see 60 FR 45722-45723). During the public comment period on
that advance notice, OGE received seven requests by persons outside OGE
for copies of the proposed new form and two comment letters, both of
which were from Federal agencies (the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and
the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)). The two comment letters generally
questioned certain aspects of the confidential financial disclosure
system, including the underlying OGE regulation codified at 5 CFR part
2634. The comment letters also urged a few specific changes to the
wording or concepts of the proposed form. Upon review, OGE has
determined not to modify the underlying reporting format nor the
proposed form itself (except, as to the form, for a couple of
clarifying revisions). In part in response to certain DLA suggestions,
the revisions to the proposed form add references in the instructions
(on page 2) to the reporting of ``401k'' plans and clarify that the
individual holdings of such plans as well as Individual Retirement
Accounts and trusts must generally be reported. The Office of
Government Ethics' reasons for not otherwise modifying either the
proposed form or the underlying regulation follow.
The Office of Government Ethics has already removed, by FR
issuance, the requirement for reporting of Government securities, bank
accounts and certain similar items which do not normally present much
potential for a conflict of interest. See below for a discussion of
this 1993 change, which is not reflected in the existing SF 450, but
will be in the proposed OGE Form 450. In addition, in the three years
since the
[[Page 62470]]
new executive branchwide confidential disclosure system took effect in
the fall of 1992, the overall system has worked well according to the
agency feedback that OGE has received. This is particularly so since
OGE and the agencies have been flexible within the regulatory
framework, allowing for appropriate limitations on coverage, exceptions
and alternative forms where justified. Further, OGE is committed to a
future fundamental reassessment of the basic structure of the
confidential disclosure system. For now, though, the redesigned
proposed OGE Form 450 represents urgently needed improvements and
updates to the existing Standard Form 450 which it will replace.
As noted, once finally approved by OMB and adopted by OGE, the new
OGE form will replace the existing SF 450 Executive Branch Personnel
Confidential Financial Disclosure Report. The SF 450 collects, as will
the future OGE Form 450, information required under OGE's executive
branchwide regulatory provisions. See subpart I of 5 CFR part 2634. The
new OGE Form 450 will serve, as does the current SF 450, as the uniform
report form for collection, on a confidential basis, of financial
information required by the OGE regulation from certain new entrant and
incumbent employees of the executive branch departments and agencies in
order to allow ethics officials to conduct conflict of interest reviews
and to resolve any actual or potential conflicts found.
The basis for the OGE regulation and the report form is two-fold.
First, section 201(d) of Executive Order 12674 of April 12, 1989 (as
modified by Executive Order 12731 of October 17, 1990) makes OGE
responsible for the establishment of a system of nonpublic
(confidential) financial disclosure by executive branch employees to
complement the system of public disclosure under the Ethics in
Government Act of 1978 (the ``Ethics Act''), as amended, 5 U.S.C.
appendix. Second, section 107(a) of the Ethics Act further provides
authority for OGE as the supervising ethics office for the executive
branch of the Federal Government to require that appropriate executive
agency employees file confidential financial disclosure reports, ``in
such form as the supervising ethics office may prescribe.'' The current
SF 450, together with the underlying OGE confidential disclosure
regulation, both initially adopted in 1992 after appropriate clearances
from OMB as well as the General Services Administration (GSA) for the
standard form, constitute the form OGE has prescribed for such
confidential financial disclosure in the executive branch. The Office
of Government Ethics recently sought and subsequently obtained a
limited paperwork renewal from OMB as to the existing SF 450 in order
to allow sufficient time for OGE to develop and clear the new OGE Form
450 which is the subject of this notice. See 60 FR 34258-34259 (June
30, 1995). The new OGE form will not require GSA clearance, since it is
not a standard (or optional) form under the GSA program. The Office of
Government Ethics will provide further information in the future to the
agencies and the public about the details of phasing in the new form,
once it is finally cleared and adopted, and phasing out the existing
standard form.
Since the OGE's financial disclosure regulation at 5 CFR part 2634
and the reporting format were adopted in 1992, there have been certain
revisions to each. The most significant of these is the determination
of OGE to exclude from general executive branch confidential financial
disclosure the reporting of cash accounts in depository institutions
(including banks), money market mutual funds and accounts and U.S.
Government obligations and securities. See 58 FR 63023-63024 (November
30, 1993). The Office of Government Ethics has directed executive
departments and agencies to notify all filers of this change, which is
not reflected on the SF 450 itself. The new OGE replacement form will
reflect that change, as well as various other changes and improvements
in the reporting format, to make it clearer and more user-friendly. A
more complete set of instructions for filling out the form is included
in the draft OGE Form 450 and helpful examples are set forth on the
reporting parts.
The Office of Government Ethics expects that the new form should be
ready, after OMB clearance, for dissemination to executive branch
departments and agencies early next year. As noted above, the Office of
Government Ethics will provide appropriate guidance and phase-in time
to departments and agencies once the new form is available. The new
form will be made available in paper, on electronic disk and on OGE's
electronic bulletin board entitled ``The Ethics Bulletin Board System''
(TEBBS). In addition, OGE will work on making available a future
electronic version of the form, to allow employees the option of
preparing it on a computer. The Office of Government Ethics also
intends to permit departments and agencies to develop or utilize
electronic versions of the form on their own, provided that they
precisely duplicate the paper original to the extent possible.
Since 1992, various agencies have developed, with OGE review/
approval, alternative reporting formats, such as certificates of no
conflict, for certain classes of employees. Other agencies provide for
additional disclosures pursuant to independent organic statutes and in
certain other circumstances when authorized by OGE. However, the future
OGE Form 450, as successor to the current SF 450, will remain the
uniform executive branch report form for most of those executive branch
employees who are required by their agencies to report confidentially
on their financial interests. The confidential report form is to be
filed by each reporting individual with the designated agency ethics
official at the executive department or agency where he or she is or
will be employed.
Reporting individuals are regular employees whose positions have
been designated by their agency as requiring confidential financial
disclosure in order to help avoid conflicts with their assigned
responsibilities; additionally, all special Government employees (SGEs)
are generally required to file. Agencies may, if appropriate under the
OGE regulation, exclude certain regular employees or SGEs as provided
in 5 CFR 2634.905. Reports are normally required to be filed within 30
days of entering a covered position (or earlier if required by the
agency concerned), and again annually if the employee serves for more
than 60 days in the position. As indicated in Sec. 2634.907 of the OGE
regulation, the information required to be collected includes assets
and sources of income, gifts and travel reimbursements, liabilities,
employment agreements and arrangements, and outside positions, subject
to certain thresholds and exclusions.
Most of the persons who file this report form are current executive
branch Government employees at the time they complete the forms.
However, some filers are private citizens who are asked by their
prospective agency to file a new entrant report prior to entering
Government service in order to permit advance checking for any
potential conflicts of interest and resolution thereof by agreement to
recuse, divest, obtain a waiver, or take other remedial steps. Based on
OGE's annual agency ethics questionnaire responses, approximately
285,000 SF 450 report forms were filed during 1994 throughout the
executive branch. Of these, OGE estimates that no more than between 5%
and 10%, or some 14,250 to 28,500 per year, are filed by private
citizens whose agencies require that
[[Page 62471]]
they file their new entrant reports prior to assuming Government
responsibilities.
Each filing is estimated to take an average of one and one-half
hours. The number of private citizens whose reports are filed each year
with OGE is less than 10, but pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.3(c)(4)(i), the
lower limit for this general regulatory-based requirement is set at 10
private persons (OGE-processed reports). This yields an annual
reporting burden of 15 hours, the same as in the current OMB inventory
for this information collection. The remainder of the private citizen
reports are filed with other departments and agencies throughout the
executive branch.
Public comment is again invited on each aspect of the proposed new
OGE Form 450 as set forth in this second notice, including specifically
views on the need for and practical utility of this proposed modified
collection of information, the accuracy of OGE's burden estimate, the
enhancement of quality, utility and clarity of the information
collected, and the minimization of burden (including the use of
information technology). The Office of Government Ethics, in
consultation with OMB, will consider all comments received, which will
become a matter of public record.
Approved: November 30, 1995.
Donald E. Campbell,
Deputy Director, Office of Government Ethics.
[FR Doc. 95-29723 Filed 12-5-95; 8:45 am]
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