[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 22 (Thursday, February 2, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 6390-6391]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-2597]
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OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS
5 CFR Part 2635
RINs 3209-AA04, 3209-AA15
Further Grace Period Extension for Certain Existing Agency
Standards of Conduct
AGENCY: Office of Government Ethics (OGE).
ACTION: Final rule; technical amendment.
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SUMMARY: The Office of Government Ethics is granting a further
grandfathering grace period extension for up to eleven months for
certain existing executive agency standards of conduct, dealing with
financial interest prohibitions and prior approval for outside
employment and activities, which have been temporarily preserved. This
further action (one previous extension was granted last year) is
necessary because many agencies have not been able to issue, with OGE
concurrence and co-signature, interim or final supplemental regulations
during the first two years' grace period. This further extension will
help ensure that agencies which have submitted draft supplementals to
OGE will have adequate time to issue, if they so desire, successor
regulatory provisions to replace grandfathered financial interest
prohibitions and prior approval requirements.
EFFECTIVE DATE: February 3, 1995.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Gressman, Office of
Government Ethics, telephone: 202-523-5757, FAX: 202-523-6325.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Government Ethics is granting
under the executive branch standards of ethical conduct a further
extension of time for up to eleven months, until January 3, 1996, for
certain agencies' existing conduct standards dealing with prohibited
financial interests and prior approval for outside employment and
activities. When OGE published its ethical conduct standards for
executive branch employees in the Federal Register on August 7, 1992
(as now codified at 5 CFR part 2635), it provided that most existing
individual agency standards of conduct would be superseded once the
executive branch-wide standards took effect on February 3, 1993.
However, OGE also provided, by means of notes following 5 CFR
2635.403(a) and 2635.803, that any existing agency standards dealing
with the two types of restrictions noted above would be preserved for
one more year, until February 3, 1994, or until the agency concerned
issued (with OGE concurrence and co-signature) a supplemental
regulation, whichever occurred first. See 57 FR 35006-35067, as
corrected at 57 FR 48557 and 52583. Last year, OGE extended that
original grace period for an additional year, until February 3, 1995
(or until agency issuance of a supplemental regulation), for those
executive branch departments and agencies that had not yet had a chance
to issue final or interim final successor rules. See 59 FR 4779-4780
(February 2, 1994) and, in particular, appendix A which was added to
part 2635 at that time.
Through OGE's liaison efforts, the Office of the Federal Register
(OFR) has assigned new chapters, including parts, at the end of title 5
of the Code of Federal Regulations to accommodate agencies' future
supplemental standards regulations (on these two and other appropriate
subject areas), as well as any supplemental agency regulations under
OGE's executive branch-wide financial disclosure provisions at 5 CFR
part 2634. Some 60 agencies have had such chapters reserved, including
those which have by now already issued, with OGE concurrence and co-
signature, interim final or final supplemental ethics regulations.
However, many agencies have still not yet had the time to issue their
planned supplemental standards regulations in interim or final form.
The Office of Government Ethics has therefore determined to permit
a further preservation of existing agency regulatory standards of
conduct setting forth financial interest prohibitions and outside
employment and activities prior approval requirements for up to eleven
more months, until January 3, 1996 (or until issuance by each agency of
its supplemental regulation, whichever comes first), for those agencies
which submitted draft supplemental standards regulations to OGE on or
before January 25, 1995. This is the last grace period extension that
OGE intends to grant. The agencies subject to this further
grandfathering grace period extension, as provided in the notes (which
are hereby being further amended) following 5 CFR 2635.403(a) and
2635.803, are enumerated at new appendix B which OGE is adding to part
2635. The agencies are listed in the order of the assignment of their
chapter numbers at the end of 5 CFR. Agencies
[[Page 6391]]
not listed either have not expressed an interest in issuing
supplemental agency ethics regulations, have indicated to OGE that they
are no longer interested in a further grace period extension, did not
file draft supplemental standards regulations with OGE by January 25,
1995, or have already issued final or interim final supplemental
standards.
The Office of Government Ethics notes that it is not by this
rulemaking setting a deadline for agencies to submit supplemental
ethics regulations. Agencies can, with OGE concurrence and co-
signature, issue supplementals at any time. Further, they can, at any
time, have new title 5 CFR chapters reserved through OGE and OFR for
such purpose if they have not already done so.
Moreover, if an agency's prohibited financial interest (and/or
prior approval) restrictions are based on a separate statute, they are
not superseded by the 5 CFR part 2635 executive branch-wide standards.
If any related regulatory provisions were located in its old agency
standards of conduct, the agency concerned could, after consultation
with OGE, retain them in their existing place in the agency's own CFR
title and chapter or move the provisions to another appropriate part of
its regulations. See 5 CFR 2635.105(c)(3). Only prior standards of
conduct provisions that are purely regulatory in nature are subject to
supersession from the executive branch-wide regulation at 5 CFR part
2635, with entitlement to the successive grace periods for the two
enumerated types of provisions as provided in the further amended notes
at Secs. 2635.403(a) and 2635.803 as well as appendixes A and B.
Administrative Procedure Act
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b) and (d), as Director of the Office of
Government Ethics, I find good cause exists for waiving the general
notice of proposed rulemaking and 30-day delay in effectiveness as to
this grace period extension. The notice and delayed effective date are
being waived because this rulemaking concerns a matter of agency
organization, practice and procedure. Furthermore, it is in the public
interest that those agencies concerned have adequate time to promulgate
successor provisions to their existing standards of conduct regulations
in these two areas without a lapse in necessary regulatory
restrictions.
Executive Order 12866
In promulgating this grace period extension technical amendment,
the Office of Government Ethics has adhered to the regulatory
philosophy and the applicable principles of regulation set forth in
section 1 of Executive Order 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review.
This amendment has not been reviewed by the Office of Management and
Budget under that Executive order, as it is not deemed ``significant''
thereunder.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
As Director of the Office of Government Ethics, I certify under the
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. chapter 6) that this rulemaking
will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of
small entities.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35) does not apply
because this rulemaking does not contain information collection
requirements that require the approval of the Office of Management and
Budget.
List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 2635
Conflict of interests, Government employees.
Approved: January 27, 1995.
Stephen D. Potts,
Director, Office of Government Ethics.
Accordingly, pursuant to its authority under title IV of the Ethics
in Government Act and Executive Orders 12674 and 12731, the Office of
Government Ethics is amending 5 CFR part 2635 as follows:
PART 2635--[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation for part 2635 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 7351, 7353; 5 U.S.C. App. (Ethics in
Government Act of 1978); E.O. 12674, 54 FR 15159, 3 CFR, 1989 Comp.,
p. 215, as modified by E.O. 12731, 55 FR 42547, 3 CFR, 1990 Comp.,
p. 306.
2. The notes following both Secs. 2635.403(a) and 2635.803 are
amended by adding a new sentence at the end of each to read as follows:
Note: * * * Provided further, that for those agencies listed in
appendix B to this part, the grace period for any such existing
provisions shall be further extended for an additional eleven months
until January 3, 1996 (for a total of two years and eleven months
after the effective date of this part) or until issuance by each
individual agency concerned of a supplemental regulation, whichever
occurs first.
3. A new appendix B is added at the end of part 2635 to read as
follows:
Appendix B to Part 2635--Agencies Entitled to a Further (Second)
Grace Period Extension Pursuant to Notes Following
Secs. 2635.403(a) and 2635.803
1. Department of the Treasury
2. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
3. Department of Energy
4. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
5. Department of the Interior
6. Department of Commerce
7. Department of Justice
8. Federal Communications Commission
9. Farm Credit Administration
10. Securities and Exchange Commission
11. Office of Personnel Management
12. Thrift Depositor Protection Oversight Board
13. United States Information Agency
14. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
15. Department of State
16. Department of Labor
17. National Science Foundation
18. Small Business Administration
19. Department of Health and Human Services
20. Federal Labor Relations Authority
21. Department of Transportation
22. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
23. Export-Import Bank of the United States
24. Department of Education
25. Environmental Protection Agency
26. National Transportation Safety Board
27. General Services Administration
28. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
29. United States Postal Service
30. National Labor Relations Board
31. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
32. Resolution Trust Corporation
33. Department of Housing and Urban Development
34. National Archives and Records Administration
35. Peace Corps
36. Tennessee Valley Authority
37. Consumer Product Safety Commission
38. Executive Office of the President
39. Department of Agriculture
40. Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
41. Office of Management and Budget
42. Agency for International Development
[FR Doc. 95-2597 Filed 2-1-95; 8:45 am]
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