[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 140 (Monday, July 22, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47804-47806]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-18343]


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OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request: Proposed Slightly 
Revised OGE Form 450 Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure 
Report

AGENCY: Office of Government Ethics (OGE).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Government Ethics has submitted a slightly 
revised version of its OGE Form 450 for confidential financial 
disclosure reporting under its existing executive branch regulations 
for review and three-year approval by the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

DATES: Comments by the agencies and the public on this proposal are 
invited and should be received by August 21, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Mr. Joseph F. Lackey, Jr.,Office 
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 
725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503; Telephone: 202-395-7316.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary T. Donovan at the Office of 
Government Ethics; Telephone: 202-208-8000, ext. 1185; TDD: 202-208-
8025; FAX: 202-208-8037. A copy of the proposed slightly revised OGE 
Form 450 and the rest of the OGE submission package to OMB may be 
obtained, without charge, by contacting Ms. Donovan.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Government Ethics has 
submitted a proposed slightly revised version of the OGE Form 450 
Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure Report for three-
year approval (reclearance) by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35. The OGE Form 450 (OMB control  
3209-0006) collects information from covered department and agency 
officials as required under OGE's executive branchwide regulatory 
provisions in subpart I of 5 CFR part 2634. The OGE Form 450 serves 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 Federal Government 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 financial 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, 5 U.S.C. appendix 
107(a), 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 version of the OGE Form 450, adopted in 1999, 
together with the underlying OGE 5 CFR part 2634 executive branchwide 
financial disclosure regulation, issued in 1992 and modified at various 
times since, constitute the basic form OGE has prescribed for such 
confidential financial disclosure in the executive branch.
    The changes to the OGE Form 450 that OGE is proposing at this time 
(as also referenced on the mark-up copy of

[[Page 47805]]

the form) are updating the contact information to reflect recent OGE 
organizational changes, formally adding a Part I (Assets and Income) 
continuation page (which the fillable versions on OGE's Web site 
already incorporate), and the forthcoming adjustment to the thresholds 
for reporting of gifts and travel reimbursements for regular employee 
annual filers in Part V of the OGE Form 450. Currently these thresholds 
require the reporting of gifts and reimbursements totaling more than 
$260 from any one source during the annual reporting period, subject to 
a de minimis exclusion for any item valued at $104 or less (which is 
not counted toward the overall threshold). The thresholds will have to 
be adjusted sometime this year when the General Services Administration 
redefines ``minimal value'' under the Foreign Gifts and Decorations 
Act, 5 U.S.C. 7342(a)(5), for the three-year period 2002-2004. 
Currently, foreign gifts minimal value is set at $260 or less pursuant 
to 41 CFR 102-42.10 of GSA's regulations. Under section 102(a)(2)(A) 
and (B) of the Ethics Act, 5 U.S.C. appendix 102(a)(2)(A) and (B), the 
public financial disclosure reporting thresholds are pegged to any 
adjustment of minimal value over $250 (at the same time and by the same 
amount percentage). The Office of Government Ethics has extended the 
statutory thresholds to confidential financial disclosure reporting for 
the executive branch. See 5 CFR 2634.907(a)(3), so incorporating the 
reporting of gifts and reimbursements specified in 5 CFR 2634.304 for 
public reports but without amounts or values. Once GSA adjusts minimal 
value for foreign gifts, OGE will revise the gifts and reimbursements 
reporting thresholds of the OGE Form 450 and amend the underlying part 
2634 regulation (public financial disclosure reporting would also be 
affected). The Office of Government Ethics will advise the departments 
and agencies of any such change, make the modified form available on 
its Web site, and coordinate with OMB on the paperwork and rulemaking 
aspects of the revision.
    In addition, OGE has made proposed revisions to the form since 
publication of the first round paperwork notice (see below). The Office 
of Government Ethics is separately working on issuing its own proposed 
Privacy Act regulation and updating the OGE/GOVT-2 executive branchwide 
system of records notice (covering Confidential Statements of 
Employment and Financial Interests). As a result, the Privacy Act 
Statement, which includes paraphrases of the routine uses, on the 
proposed OGE Form 450 will need to be revised. As soon as possible, a 
summary of the anticipated changes relevant to that OGE Form 450 
statement will be prepared for inclusion with the mark-up copy of the 
form as proposed for revision, which is available from OGE upon 
request. Once the new language in OGE's forthcoming Privacy Act 
regulation and systems notice is finalized (anticipated completion date 
is January 2003), OGE will request permission from OMB to modify the 
OGE Form 450 (with notice to OMB at that time) without further 
paperwork clearance even though the new wording will likely take effect 
after reclearance of the renewed form. As with the future gifts/
reimbursements thresholds changes (see above), OGE will also advise the 
departments and agencies of the privacy statement changes, make the 
modified form available on the OGE Web site, and coordinate with OMB at 
that time.
    The Office of Government Ethics will continue to make the OGE Form 
450 available to departments and agencies and their reporting employees 
through the Forms, Publications & Other Ethics Documents section of 
OGE's Internet Web site (address: http://www.usoge.gov). This allows 
employees two different fillable options for preparing their report on 
a computer (in addition to a downloadable blank form), although a 
printout and manual signature of the form are still required unless 
specifically approved otherwise by OGE. Moreover, OGE also permits 
departments and agencies to develop or utilize their own electronic 
versions of the OGE Form 450 provided they precisely duplicate the 
paper original to the extent technically possible. While OGE sees no 
legal bar to electronic filing and electronic signatures for the OGE 
Form 450, agencies must meet the requirements of the Government 
Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) and other applicable laws and issues 
such as security, verification, non-repudiation, etc. Those agencies 
seeking to develop or utilize an electronic version of the OGE Form 
450, and who have not so informed OGE, are asked to advise OGE's Deputy 
Director for Administration and Information Management of their 
intentions to do so and to provide assurance of their adherence to the 
previously mentioned requirements.
    Moreover, since 1992 various departments and 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. In 1997, OGE itself developed the new OGE Optional 
Form 450-A (Confidential Certificate of No New Interests (Executive 
Branch)) for possible agency and employee use in certain years, if 
applicable. That optional form continues in use at various agencies. 
However, the OGE Form 450 remains 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 OGE Form 450 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 under 5 CFR 2634.904 as requiring 
confidential financial disclosure in order to help avoid conflicts with 
their assigned responsibilities; under that section, all special 
Government employees (SGE) are also 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 in the fall 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, liabilities, outside positions, employment agreements and 
arrangements, and gifts and travel reimbursements, 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 their report. 
However, some filers are private citizens who are asked to submit the 
report by the Senate committee considering their nomination for a PAS 
position (Presidential Appointment with Senate confirmation), or 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 or divest, obtaining of a waiver, etc. Based on 
OGE's annual agency ethics program questionnaire responses for 1999, 
2000, and 2001 (the

[[Page 47806]]

figures for the latter year now being available), OGE estimates that an 
average of approximately 264,509 OGE Form 450 report forms will be 
filed each year for the next three years throughout the executive 
branch (some 4,000 less than estimated in the first round Federal 
Register notice when the 2001 figures were not yet available). This 
estimate is based on average number of report forms filed branchwide 
for 1999 through 2001 as indicated in the Questionnaire responses, some 
271,834 in 1999, 265,053 in 2000, and 256,639 in 2001 for a total of 
793,526 with that number then divided by three and rounded to give the 
projected annual average of 264,509 reports. Of these reports, OGE 
estimates that no more than between 5% and 10%, or some 13,225 to 
26,451 per year at most, will be filed by private citizens, those 
potential (incoming) 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. No 
termination reports are required for the OGE Form 450.
    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 itself is less than 10, but pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.3(c)(4)(i), 
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 OGE's 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.
    On March 18, 2002, OGE published its first round notice of the 
forthcoming request for paperwork clearance for the proposed slightly 
revised OGE Form 450. See 67 FR 12017-12018. The Office of Government 
Ethics did not receive any comments in response to that notice, though 
one agency requested a copy of the proposed form.
    In this second notice, public comment is again invited on the 
proposed slightly revised 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). The Office of Government Ethics, in 
consultation with OMB, will consider all comments received, which will 
become a matter of public record.

    Approved: July 15, 2002.
Amy L. Comstock,
Director, Office of Government Ethics.
[FR Doc. 02-18343 Filed 7-19-02; 8:45 am]
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