[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 117 (Friday, June 18, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32878-32880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-15526]
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OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request: Proposed Slightly
Modified Form for Requesting Access to Executive Branch Public
Financial Disclosure Reports and Other Covered Records
AGENCY: Office of Government Ethics (OGE).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Office of Government Ethics has submitted to the Office of
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Management and Budget (OMB) a slightly modified OGE Form 201 used by
persons for requesting access to executive branch public financial
reports and other covered records for three-year approval under the
Paperwork Reduction Act. This proposed modified version of the form
will replace the existing one.
DATES: Comments by the agencies and the public on this proposal are
invited and should be received by July 19, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Joseph F. Lackey, Jr., 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 or Michael J.
Lewandowski at the Office of Government Ethics; telephone: 202-208-
8000, ext. 1110; TDD: 202-208-8025; FAX: 202-523-6325. A copy of the
proposed slightly revised OGE Form 201 may be obtained, without charge,
by contacting Mr. Gressman or Mr. Lewandowski.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Government Ethics has
submitted to OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
chapter 35), 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 Records'' (OMB control #
3209-0002). On February 4, 1999, OGE published a ``first round''
paperwork notice of the proposed modified OGE Form 201 (see 64 FR 5657-
5658). No public comments were received on that advance notice.
Therefore, OGE has determined to proceed with submission of the
proposed modified form without any additional changes. Once finally
approved by OMB and adopted by OGE, the modified version of OGE Form
201 will replace the existing version of the form.
As noted in the first round Federal Register notice, OGE, 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 proposing to slightly modify and update the
existing access form. That form, the OGE Form 201, 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 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 in the future 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
105(c)(2) of the Ethics Act, 5 U.S.C. appendix, section 105(c)(2), 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 has requested 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 and the agencies at that
time). The so revised version of the form will be distributed to OMB
and the agencies once that change takes effect. In addition, any
periodic future adjustments to that civil monetary penalty (every three
years or so), 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 its 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 this summer. The OGE Form 201
as revised will be made available free-of-charge to departments and
agencies in paper
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form, as well as in a Portable Document Format (PDF) viewable and
downloadable electronic image on OGE's Internet Web site (Uniform
Resource Locator address: http://www.usoge.gov, under the Ethics
Resource Library section) and in future editions of The Ethics CD-ROM.
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).
The Office of Government Ethics, in consultation with OMB, will
consider all comments received, which will become a matter of public
record.
Approved: June 14, 1999.
Stephen D. Potts,
Director, Office of Government Ethics.
[FR Doc. 99-15526 Filed 6-17-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6345-01-U
