[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 170 (Friday, September 1, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45722-45723]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-21753]



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OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS


Advance Notice of Proposed Modified Form for Executive Branch 
Confidential Financial Disclosure Reporting To Be Submitted 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 plans to submit a new OGE Form 
450 for confidential financial disclosure reporting under its existing 
executive branch regulations for approval by the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act. This new, modified 
form will replace the existing Standard Form (SF) 450.

DATES: Comments on this proposal should be received by November 15, 
1995.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to William E. Gressman, Office of 
Government Ethics, Suite 500, 1201 New York Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20005-3917.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Gressman at the Office of 
Government Ethics, telephone 202-523-5757 (ext. 1110), FAX 202-523-
6325. A copy of OGE's draft form 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 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). 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 regulation, both 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 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 advance 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. 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, on 
their own, electronic versions of the form 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 

[[Page 45723]]
(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, obtaining of a waiver, etc. 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 
14,500 to 28,500 per year at most, are filed by private citizens, those 
potential regular employees whose positions are designated for 
confidential disclosure filing as well as potential special Government 
employees whose agencies require that 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 1320.7(s)(1), 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 invited on each aspect of the proposed new OGE 
Form 450 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 submitted 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: August 28, 1995.
Stephen D. Potts,
Director, Office of Government Ethics.
[FR Doc. 95-21753 Filed 8-31-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6345-01-U