[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12191]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 A BILL TO MAKE PERMANENT THE AUTHORITY TO REDACT FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE 
         STATEMENTS OF JUDICIAL EMPLOYEES AND JUDICIAL OFFICERS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HOWARD COBLE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 27, 2001

  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, along with the Ranking Member of the 
Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, 
Representative Berman, I rise to introduce a bill to make permanent the 
authority to redact financial disclosure statements of judicial 
employees and judicial officers.
  Under the Ethics in Government Act, judges and other high-level 
judicial branch officials must file annual financial disclosure 
reports. However, due to the nature of the judicial function and the 
increased security risks it entails, section 7 of the ``Identity Theft 
and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998'' allows the Judicial Conference 
to redact statutorily required information in a financial disclosure 
report where the release of the information could endanger the filer or 
his or her family. This provision will sunset on December 31, 2001, in 
the absence of further legislative action.
  The Judicial Conference Committee on Financial Disclosure recently 
submitted a report on section 7. The Committee monitors the release of 
financial disclosure reports to ensure compliance with the statute, 
reviews redaction requests, and approves or disapproves any request for 
the redaction of statutorily mandated information where the release of 
the information could endanger a filer. In 2000, the Committee noted 
that: (1) 13 financial disclosure reports were wholly redacted because 
the judge was under a specific, active security threat; (2) 140 judges' 
reports were partially redacted (59 of which were based on specific 
threats; the other 81 due to general threats and the potential risk of 
disclosure of a family member's unsecured workplace or a residence of a 
judge or a judge's family); and (3) a total of 218 financial disclosure 
reports, which includes reports from previous years, were partially 
redacted.
  The purpose of the annual financial disclosure reports required by 
the Ethics in Government Act is to increase public confidence in 
government officials and better enable the public to judge the 
performance of those officials. However, federal judges should be 
allowed to redact certain information from financial disclosures when 
they or a family member is threatened. Importantly, the practice has 
never interfered with the release of critical information to the 
public.
  This bill will eliminate the sunset in section 7 and permit the 
Judicial Conference to permanently redact information in financial 
disclosure reports where the information could endanger the filer or 
his or her family. This is a good bill, and I urge my colleagues to 
support it when it is brought to the House Floor for consideration.

                          ____________________