96-20141. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request for the Proposed Paperwork Renewal of the SF 278 Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report

[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 153 (Wednesday, August 7, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41162-41164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-20141]


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OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request for the Proposed 
Paperwork Renewal of the SF 278 Executive Branch Personnel Public 
Financial Disclosure Report

AGENCY: Office of Government Ethics (OGE).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Government Ethics has submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) the Standard Form (SF) 278 Executive Branch 
Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report which OGE sponsors for a 
three-year extension of approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The 
SF 278 is henceforth to be accompanied by agency notification to filers 
of certain modified reporting requirements not yet incorporated into 
the form itself; OGE also intends to work on a future modified form to 
eventually replace the existing SF 278.

DATES: Comments on this proposal should be received by September 6, 
1996.

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: [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Gressman, Office of General 
Counsel and Legal Policy, Office of Government Ethics, 1201 New York 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20005-3917; telephone: [phone] (ext. 
1110), FAX: [phone]. A blank SF 278 form may be obtained, without 
charge, by contacting Mr. Gressman.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Government Ethics has 
submitted to OMB, for three-year approval by OMB under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the existing SF 278 
Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report (OMB 
control number 3209-0001), without change, for a three-year extension 
of approval by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
chapter 35). The current paperwork approval for the SF 278 is scheduled 
to expire at the end of

[[Page 41163]]

September 1996. Since, for now (see discussion below), no modification 
to the standard form is being proposed, OGE will not need to seek 
General Services Administration (GSA) clearance for the request for 
extension of OMB paperwork approval.
    On March 6, 1996, OGE published an advance paperwork notice of its 
forthcoming request for three-year extension of paperwork approval for 
the SF 278 (see 61 FR 8941-8942). Just one comment, from an executive 
branch department, was received based on that advance notice. The 
department offered to provide OGE detailed comments were OGE to seek 
legislative changes to improve the nature and process of information 
collected by the SF 278 under the Ethics Act financial disclosure 
provisions. As OGE indicated in the advance notice, for now OGE is not 
proposing any changes to the existing SF 278 report form, though it is 
asking agencies to provide updating notices to filers of certain 
changes in the Ethics Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act (see the 
discussion below). Moreover, OGE does not intend at this time to seek 
any legislative changes to the Ethics Act financial disclosure 
provisions (indeed, the law was recently amended, not at OGE's request, 
to require more detailed reporting of certain higher-valued items). 
Therefore, OGE has determined to proceed with submission of the SF 278 
as is to OMB for renewal of paperwork approval. However, OGE has also 
indicated that it will consider improvements to the SF 278 in the 
future and the commenting department's further input can take place at 
that time along with that of other interested agencies and the public.
    As noted in the advance FR notice, OGE, as the supervising ethics 
office for the executive branch of the Federal Government under the 
Ethics in Government Act (the ``Ethics Act''), is the sponsoring agency 
for the SF 278, the most recent edition of which is that of June 1994 
(the existing paperwork clearance, for which OGE now is requesting a 
three-year extension, is good through the end of September 1996). The 
prior January 1991 edition of the SF 278 also remains usable until 
supplies are exhausted. In accordance with section 102 of the Ethics in 
Government Act, 5 U.S.C. app., 102, and OGE's implementing financial 
disclosure regulations at 5 CFR part 2634, the SF 278 collects 
pertinent financial information from certain officers and high-level 
employees in the executive branch for conflicts of interest review and 
public disclosure. The financial information collected under the 
statute and regulations relates to: assets and income; transactions; 
gifts, reimbursements and travel expenses; liabilities; agreements or 
arrangements; outside positions; and compensation over $5,000 paid by a 
source--all subject to various reporting thresholds and exclusions.
    The SF 278 is completed by candidates, nominees, new entrants, 
incumbents and terminees of certain high-level positions in the 
executive branch of the Federal Government. The Office of Government 
Ethics, along with the agencies concerned, conducts the review of the 
SF 278 reports of Presidential nominees subject to Senate confirmation. 
This group of nominee reports forms the basis of OGE's paperwork 
estimates. In light of OGE's experience over the past three years 
(1993-1995), the estimate of the total number, on average, of such 
nominees' SF 278 forms expected to be filed annually at OGE by members 
of the public (as opposed to current Federal employees), primarily by 
private citizen nominees and private representatives (lawyers, 
accountants, brokers and bankers) of both private citizen and Federal 
employee nominees, remains 280. The estimated average amount of time to 
complete the report form, including review of the instructions, is also 
the same--three hours. Thus, the overall estimated annual public burden 
for the SF 278 for the nominee report forms processed at the Office of 
Government Ethics will stay at 840 hours. Moreover, OGE estimates, 
based on the agency ethics program questionnaire responses for 1995, 
that some 21,700 SF 278 report forms are filed annually at departments 
and agencies throughout the executive branch. Most of those executive 
branch filers are current Federal employees at the time they file, but 
certain candidates for President and Vice President, nominees, new 
entrants and terminees complete the form either before or after their 
Government service. The percentage of private citizen filers branchwide 
is estimated at no more than 5% to 10%, or some 1,085 to 2,160 at most.
    The Office of Government Ethics is asking executive branch 
departments and agencies to notify filers of the SF 278 of certain 
recent changes in the reporting law as regards higher-category (over 
$1,000,000) assets, income and liabilities. In addition, OGE itself 
will notify concerned filers holding qualified blind trusts of a 
modification as to reportable trust interests. See sections 20 and 22 
of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, Public Law 104- 65, which 
amended the Ethics in Government Act. It does not appear at this time 
that there will be a need to modify the gifts/reimbursement reporting 
thresholds, since the ``minimal value'' threshold as determined by the 
General Services Administration in consultation with the Secretary of 
State under the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act, 5 U.S.C. 7342, is 
likely to remain under $250 for the next three years, 1996-1998 (the 
Ethics Act reporting thresholds are pegged to any increase over $250 of 
``minimal value''). In the next year or two, OGE intends to begin work 
on an eventual successor form to the current version of the SF 278 that 
would reflect these recent changes as well as add express mention, on 
the public burden information block, of a statement pursuant to the 
1995 amendments to the paperwork law to the effect that ``an agency may 
not conduct or sponsor, and no person is required to respond to, a 
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number,'' together with a parenthetical mention that such 
number is displayed in the upper right-hand corner of the front page of 
the form. Serious consideration will also be given to any other 
appropriate changes, including possible redesign of the form at that 
time. That future form may either be a modified standard form or a new 
OGE form and will be subject to appropriate clearances before issuance. 
Again, for now, OGE is not proposing to modify the SF 278 report form 
itself, but rather will ask that departments and agencies notify their 
filers of the modifications to the reporting requirements and new 
paperwork statement when the existing SF 278 forms are provided for 
completion (OGE will notify concerned filers of the changes as to 
qualified blind trust interests).
    Based on an OGE request last year as approved by the General 
Services Administration, the SF 278 Public Financial Disclosure Report 
can now be electronically duplicated without standard form exception 
clearance pursuant to GSA's Federal Information Resources Management 
Regulation Bulletin B-3, as revised, provided that the bulletin's 
strict duplication standards (precisely paralleling the original paper 
form to the extent feasible) are complied with. Thus, departments and 
agencies can develop their own electronic SF 278 forms. The Office of 
Government Ethics also intends to develop a stand-alone electronic SF 
278 form that would be made available free of charge or at cost to 
executive branch departments and agencies. In addition, that electronic 
version of the form could be placed on OGE's electronic bulletin board 
entitled

[[Page 41164]]

``The Ethics Bulletin Board System'' (TEBBS). For now, OGE notes that 
even with these electronic initiatives, the SF 278 reports, once 
completed, will still need to be printed out and signed manually. 
Electronic filing is not authorized at this time for the SF 278s.
    Public comment is invited on each aspect of the SF 278 Public 
Financial Disclosure Report as set forth in this notice, including 
specifically views on the need for and practical utility of this 
collection of information, the accuracy of OGE's burden estimate, the 
potential for 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 in response 
to this notice. The comments will also become a matter of public 
record.

    Approved: August 1, 1996.
Stephen D. Potts,
Director, Office of Government Ethics.
[FR Doc. 96-20141 Filed 8-6-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6345-01-U