[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