[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 23 (Thursday, February 4, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5657-5658]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-2639]
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OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS
Proposed Collection; Comment Request: Proposed Slightly Revised
OGE Form 201 Ethics Act Access Form
AGENCY: Office of Government Ethics (OGE).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: After this first round notice and public comment period, OGE
plans to submit a slightly modified OGE Form 201, which is used by
persons for requesting access to executive branch public financial
disclosure reports and other covered records, to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for three-year approval under the Paperwork
Reduction Act. This modified form will replace the existing one.
DATES: Comments by the agencies and the public on this proposal are
invited and should be received by April 20, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to William E. Gressman, Senior
Associate General Counsel, Office of Government Ethics, Suite 500, 1201
New York Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20005-3917. Comments may also be
sent electronically to OGE's Internet E-mail address at usoge@oge.gov.
For E-mail messages, the subject line should include the following
reference--``Paperwork comment on the proposed slightly revised OGE
Form 201.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Gressman at the Office of
Government Ethics; telephone: 202-208-8000, ext. 1110; FAX: 202-208-
8037. A copy of the proposed slightly revised OGE Form 201 may be
obtained, without charge, by contacting Mr. Gressman.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Government Ethics is planning
to submit, after this notice and comment period (with any modifications
that may appear warranted), a proposed slightly modified OGE Form 201
``Request to Inspect or Receive Copies of SF 278 Executive Branch
Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report or Other Covered Record''
for three-year approval by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35). Once finally approved by OMB and adopted
by OGE, the modified version of this OGE form will replace the existing
version (whose paperwork clearance is scheduled to expire at the end of
next June).
The Office of Government Ethics, as the supervising ethics office
for the executive branch of the Federal Government under the Ethics in
Government Act (the Ethics Act), 5 U.S.C. appendix, is planning to
modify and update the existing access form. That form, the OGE Form 201
(OMB control 3209-0002), collects information
from, and provides certain information to, persons who seek access to
SF 278 reports and other covered records. The form reflects the
requirements of the Ethics Act and OGE's implementing regulations that
must be met by a person before access can be granted. These
requirements relate to information about the identity of the requester,
as well as any other person on whose behalf a record is sought, and a
notification of prohibited uses of SF 278 reports. See section 105(b)
and (c) of the Ethics Act, 5 U.S.C. appendix, section 105(b) and (c),
and 5 CFR 2634.603(c) and (f). For many years, OGE has disseminated to
executive branch departments and agencies a locally reproducible
uniform form to serve as the statutorily required written application
to inspect or receive copies of SF 278 reports and other covered
records. Departments and agencies are encouraged to utilize the OGE
Form 201, but they can, if they so choose, continue to use or develop
their own forms. See the discussion below.
This proposed slightly modified version of the OGE Form 201 will
add express mention (in part III of the form) in the reference to those
Ethics Act-qualified blind trust and diversified trust materials that
are publicly available to any trust dissolution report (and the list of
trust assets at that time) and the qualification that any trust
instrument provisions relating to testamentary disposition of trust
assets are not publicly available. See 5 CFR 2634.408(a)(1)(i), (a)(3)
and (d). Also, OGE proposes to clarify somewhat the wording regarding
the sixth numbered routine use under the Privacy Act statement on the
reverse side of the form. The modified wording would more closely track
the wording of the underlying routine use (h) in the OGE/GOVT-1
executive branchwide system of records. See 55 FR 6327-6331 (February
22, 1990). Further, in the form's public burden statement, OGE proposes
to drop the reference to OMB as a further point of contact for
information collection comments on the OGE Form 201. Pursuant to
current procedures, OGE will be indicated from now on as the sole
contact point for
[[Page 5658]]
such comments for the form, on which OGE will coordinate with OMB if
necessary.
Moreover, as noted on the mark-up copy of the form as proposed to
be revised, OGE will adjust the referenced civil monetary penalty at
the bottom of the first page for prohibited uses of an SF 278 to which
access has been gained. The penalty, under section 104(a) of the Ethics
Act, 5 U.S.C. appendix, section 104(a), will be raised from $10,000 to
$11,000 once OGE and the Department of Justice issue their respective
inflation adjustment rulemakings under the 1996 Debt Collection
Improvement Act revisions to the 1990 Federal Civil Penalties Inflation
Adjustment Act. See 28 U.S.C. 2461 note. The OGE rulemaking will, in
pertinent part, revise 5 CFR 2634.703 of the executive branch financial
disclosure regulation. The Office of Government Ethics will request
permission from OMB to adjust the OGE Form 201 reference once that
adjustment takes effect without further paperwork clearance, even if
the adjustment occurs after reclearance of the slightly revised form
(with notice to OMB at that time). Moreover, any periodic future
adjustments to that civil monetary penalty, pursuant to further
rulemakings by OGE and the Justice Department under the inflation
adjustment laws, will also be reflected in future editions of the form.
Finally, OGE would also make a couple of minor stylistic changes to
the form and show the 1999 edition date. The mark-up copy of the OGE
Form 201 as proposed for slight revision, which is available from OGE
(see the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section above), shows all the
changes that would be made.
In light of OGE's experience over the past three years (1996-1998,
with a total of 517 non-Federal access requests received), the estimate
of the average number of access forms expected to be filed annually at
OGE by members of the public (primarily by news media, public interest
groups and private citizens) is proposed to be adjusted down from the
current estimate of 275 to 172 (not counting access requests by other
Federal agencies or Federal employees). The estimated average amount of
time to complete the form, including review of the instructions,
remains at ten minutes. Thus, the overall estimated annual public
burden for the OGE Form 201 for forms filed at the Office of Government
Ethics will decrease from 46 hours in the current OMB paperwork
inventory listing (275 forms X 10 minutes per form--number rounded off)
to 29 hours (172 forms X 10 minutes per form--number rounded off).
Moreover, although OGE no longer asks executive branch departments and
agencies on the annual ethics program questionnaire for their numbers
of access requests, OGE estimates that the annual branchwide total is
probably around 1,500 as in years past.
The Office of Government Ethics expects that the slightly revised
form should be ready, after OMB clearance, for dissemination to
executive branch departments and agencies next summer. The OGE Form 201
as revised will be made available free-of-charge to departments and
agencies in paper form, on the ethics CD-ROM and on OGE's Internet Web
site (Uniform Resource Locator address: http://www.usoge.gov). The
Office of Government Ethics also will permit departments and agencies
to photocopy or have copies printed of the form as well as to develop
or utilize, on their own, electronic versions of the form, provided
that they precisely duplicate the paper original to the extent
possible. As noted above, agencies can also develop their own access
forms, provided all the information required by the Ethics Act and OGE
regulations is placed on the form, along with the appropriate Privacy
Act and paperwork notices with any attendant clearances being obtained
therefor.
Public comment is invited on each aspect of the proposed slightly
modified OGE Form 201 as set forth in this 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).
Comments received in response to this notice will be summarized
for, and may be included with, the OGE request for OMB paperwork
approval for this modified information collection. The comments will
also become a matter of public record.
Approved: January 29, 1999.
Stephen D. Potts,
Director, Office of Government Ethics.
[FR Doc. 99-2639 Filed 2-3-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6345-01-P
