[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 52 (Friday, March 17, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13848-13850]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-3937]
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OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS
Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Modified OGE Form 450
Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (New First
Round Notice)
AGENCY: Office of Government Ethics (OGE).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In August of 2005, the Office of Government Ethics published
in the Federal Register a first round paperwork notice that it intended
to modify the OGE Form 450 Executive Branch Confidential Financial
Disclosure Report form, to improve its clarity and design, and to
change in part the information that it collects. Because we received so
many helpful comments in response to that notice, we have significantly
redesigned the proposed new OGE Form 450 and are publishing another
first round paperwork notice in order to provide a further comment
period. After this additional first round notice and public comment
period, OGE plans to submit a modified OGE Form 450 to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and three-year extension of
approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The modified OGE Form 450
would be used for confidential disclosure financial disclosure
reporting starting in 2007 under OGE's proposed amended executive
branch regulations, once those regulatory revisions are finalized and
become effective.
DATES: Comments by the public and agencies on this proposal are invited
and should be received by May 31, 2006.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to OGE on this paperwork notice by
any of the following methods:
E-mail: [email protected] (include reference to ``OGE Form 450
Paperwork Comment'' in the subject line of the message).
Fax: 202-482-9237.
Mail, Hand Delivery/Courier: Office of Government Ethics,
Suite 500, 1201 New York Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20005-3917,
Attention: James V. Parle, Associate Director, Information Resources
Management Division.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James V. Parle, Associate Director,
Information Resources Management Division, Office of Government Ethics;
Telephone: 202-482-9300; TDD: 202-482-9293; Fax: 202-482-9237. A copy
of the proposed further modified OGE Form 450 may be obtained, without
charge, by contacting Mr. Parle.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 covered new entrant and
incumbent employees of Federal Government executive branch departments
and agencies. Agency ethics officials then use the completed OGE Form
450 reports to conduct conflict of interest reviews and to resolve any
actual or potential conflicts identified.
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, 3 CFR, 1990
Comp., pp. 306-311, at p. 308) 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. app., sec. 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 OGE
Form 450, and the underlying executive branchwide financial disclosure
regulation (5 CFR part 2634), constitute the basic reporting system
that OGE has prescribed for such confidential financial disclosure in
the executive branch.
Proposed Further Modifications to the Form
As noted above, in August of 2005, the Office of Government Ethics
published a first round paperwork notice that it intended to modify the
OGE Form 450 Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure Report
form, to improve its clarity and design, and to change in part the
information that it collects. See 70 FR 47204-47206 (August 12, 2005).
We also made our draft form as proposed to be modified available for
public review and comment upon request. OGE received 18 agency comments
on the proposed revised form, both in response to that paperwork notice
and form-specific comments in response to the related proposed
amendments to the confidential disclosure regulation noted below. Based
thereon, OGE is now proposing further modifications to the OGE Form
450's design and content, and publishing in the Federal Register this
additional first round paperwork notice.
As we noted in our first paperwork notice, the proposed
modifications to the OGE Form 450 (both the previous and current
drafts) are intended primarily to make it easier for filers to complete
the form electronically. Modifications being proposed to the current
version of the OGE Form 450 (9/02 edition) include changing the form
layout from landscape to portrait. OGE expects to have a system in
place by February 2007, not only for electronic completion of the new
form but also for electronic filing.
Regardless of whether the form is filed electronically, the
proposed modifications also are intended to make completion of the OGE
Form 450 easier overall, by simplifying the instructions and placing
them on the same pages as the reporting schedules so that filers will
not have to scroll through multiple screens to read directions.
Moreover, contacting filers with follow-up questions would be
facilitated by the addition of space for the filer's e-mail address.
In response to concerns expressed about the length of the proposed
modified form, we have decreased the number of pages from nine to five,
or to one page if the filer has nothing to report. We did this, in
part, by recombining the ``noninvestment income'' and the ``assets and
investment income'' subparts into one part entitled
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``Assets and Income''; moving all of the examples to one, removable
page; and creating a removable cover page.
In response to other concerns, we have moved the spaces designated
for the filers' and reviewing officials' signatures from the last page
to the first page of the form. In addition, we have modified the
previous draft modified form by removing the column proposed in which
the filer would have been required to check a box if the value of a
reported stock exceeded $15,000 or if the value of a reported mutual
fund exceeded $50,000. Some commenters noted that these boxes often
would not assist reviewers in determining whether a filer's holdings
would fall within the de minimis exemptions published at 5 CFR part
2640. In many cases, a filer's holdings would have to be aggregated
when applying the de minimis exemptions, so the reviewer still would
have to contact the employee for additional information.
Modifications proposed to the content of the OGE Form 450 parallel
changes OGE has proposed to the executive branch confidential financial
disclosure regulations in part 2634 of 5 CFR. Filers will be required
to use the new version of the form once the regulatory revisions are
finalized and become effective, which OGE anticipates will be on
January 1, 2007. See OGE's proposed rule published on August 12, 2005
at 70 FR 47138-47147. Generally, the regulatory revisions proposed
include: Eliminating the reporting of diversified mutual funds,
eliminating dates of honoraria, eliminating dates of agreements and
arrangements (other than those for future employment), eliminating the
reporting of types of income that assets earned (i.e., dividends,
capital gains, interest, etc.), and revising reporting requirements
relating to liabilities by eliminating the requirement to report
student loans, mortgages on rental property, and credit card debt if
the loans are granted on terms made available to the general public.
OGE also is proposing to incorporate in the modified OGE Form 450
the new aggregation threshold of more than $305 for the reporting of
gifts and travel reimbursements. This new threshold is based on the
General Services Administration's (GSA's) increase in ``minimal value''
under the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act to $305 or less for 2005-
2007, to which the thresholds are linked by the Ethics Act and OGE
regulation. See GSA's redefinition at 70 FR 2317-2318 (pt. V) (January
12, 2005), section 102(a)(2)(A) and (B) of the Ethics Act, OGE's
regulatory adjustment of the gifts/reimbursements thresholds for both
public and confidential financial disclosure reports at 70 FR 12111-
12112 (March 11, 2005), and OGE DAEOgram DO-05-007 of March 17, 2005,
all available on OGE's Web site at www.usoge.gov. (When GSA next
adjusts minimal value, OGE will accordingly adjust the gifts/
reimbursements reporting thresholds for the three-year period beyond
2007.)
Finally, OGE is proposing to update the OGE Form 450's Privacy Act
Statement summary of the sixth listed routine use (see OGE's notice of
revised Privacy Act records systems as published at 68 FR 3097-3109
(January 22, 2003), and routine use ``f'' at p. 3102 in particular).
Availability and Timing
After it is finally updated and authorized for use next year, OGE
will make the modified OGE Form 450 available to departments and
agencies, and their reporting employees, through the Forms,
Publications & Other Ethics Documents section of OGE's Web site
(www.usoge.gov). We will maintain the current version of the form on
the OGE Web site for the rest of 2006.
As noted above, OGE does not intend that the modified OGE Form 450
(once finalized) be utilized until 2007. Therefore, OGE will separately
request from OMB an extension of paperwork clearance for the current
version of the report form to allow its continued use for the remainder
of 2006 and publish in the Federal Register a second round paperwork
notice with respect to that requested extension. Thus, agencies should
continue to have their new entrant confidential report filers,
including special Government employees (SGEs) filing such reports upon
their reappointment/redesignation or appointment anniversary dates, use
the current version of the form throughout this year. After the
forthcoming final clearance of the new modified version of the OGE Form
450, agencies should require starting in 2007 both new entrant and
annual incumbent confidential report filers to use the new version of
the form.
Furthermore, OGE plans to waive this fall's filing requirement as
to annual fiscal year (FY05) incumbent reports using the current
version of the OGE Form 450 that otherwise would be due by October 31,
2006. Instead, we will require annual confidential filers to file the
new modified form with their agencies by the new filing deadline of
February 15, 2007. This first new report will incorporate a 15-month
reporting period (from October 2005 through December 2006) in order to
avoid any gap in reporting due to the transition from a fiscal year to
a calendar year basis for annual reporting. Thereafter, the new annual
confidential reports due each February will just cover the prior
calendar year.
Effect on Use of Alternative Reports and OGE Optional Form 450-A
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. Moreover, in
1997, OGE itself developed the OGE Optional Form 450-A (Confidential
Certificate of No New Interests (Executive Branch)) for possible agency
and confidential filer employee use in certain years, if applicable.
That optional confidential form continues in use at various agencies
throughout the executive branch. The authority to use these alternative
systems, including the OGE Optional Form 450-A, would not be disturbed
by OGE's proposed amendments to the confidential disclosure regulation
or the modifications OGE is proposing to the OGE Form 450. For annual
reporting, such alternative and optional forms should reflect the shift
from a fiscal year to a calendar year basis once that change is
instituted next year.
OGE notes that the underlying OGE Form 450 itself remains the
uniform executive branch report form for most of those executive branch
employees required by their agencies to report confidentially on their
financial interests.
Reporting Individuals
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, special Government employees 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 (Sec. 2634.904(b) of the regulation as proposed for
revision.) Reports are normally required to be filed within 30 days of
entering a covered position (or earlier if required by the agency
[[Page 13850]]
concerned), and again annually if the employee serves for more than 60
days in the position.
Most of the persons who file this report are current executive
branch Government employees at the time they complete their report.
However, some filers are private citizens who are asked by their
prospective agencies to file new entrant reports prior to entering
Government service in order to permit advance checking for any
potential conflicts of interest and resolution thereof by recusal,
divestiture, waiver, etc.
Reporting Burden
Based on OGE's annual agency ethics program questionnaire responses
for 2002 through 2004, OGE estimates that an average of approximately
277,215 OGE Form 450 reports will be filed each year for the next three
years throughout the executive branch. This estimate is based on the
number of reports filed branchwide for 2002 through 2004 (272,755 in
2002, 263,463 in 2003, and 295,426 in 2004) for a total of 831,644,
with that number then divided by three and rounded, to give the
projected annual average of 277,215 reports. Of these reports, OGE
estimates that 7.6 percent, or some 21,068 per year, will be filed by
private citizens. Private citizen filers are 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 to complete. This yields an annual reporting burden of 31,602
hours. OGE previously has published an estimate of only 15 hours
because we were not previously required by OMB to make a branchwide
estimate, and 15 hours is the applicable regulatory minimum. The
current burden hours therefore account for private citizen filers whose
reports were filed each year only with OGE itself. In the past, the
number of private citizens whose reports were filed each year with OGE
itself was 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. Thus, OGE reported the current annual burden of 15
hours. The proposed estimate of burden hours includes private citizen
reports filed with departments and agencies throughout the executive
branch (including OGE).
Consideration of Comments
As noted, public comment is again invited, this time particularly
on the proposed further modified OGE Form 450 summarized in this notice
and available without charge from OGE upon request (see the For Further
Information Contact section above). In accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), public comments are
invited specifically 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 is planning to submit to OMB, after
this notice and comment period, a modified OGE Form 450 for three-year
approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. OGE especially invites
comments on the further changes to the proposed modified OGE Form 450
that are intended to make it easier for filers to complete and for
agencies to review. Comments received in response to this notice will
be summarized for, and may be included with, OGE's future request for
OMB paperwork approval for the proposed modified OGE Form 450. Any
comments received will also become a matter of public record. After
reviewing any comments and deciding on the proposed modifications to
the OGE Form 450, OGE will also publish a second paperwork notice in
the Federal Register to inform the agencies and the public at the time
it submits the request for OMB paperwork approval.
Approved: March 14, 2006.
Marilyn L. Glynn,
Acting Director, Office of Government Ethics.
[FR Doc. E6-3937 Filed 3-16-06; 8:45 am]
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