Ethics Office Issues
Memorandum to NPS Regarding Hatch Act at NPS Facilities On
September 8, 2004 the DAEO and the Associate Solicitor for Parks and
Wildlife issued a joint memo to the Director of the Park Service
clarifying guidance previously issued by the Office of Special
Counsel on political activity on federal lands. See the September 8,
2004 memo.
Hatch Act News The Office of Special Counsel filed
complaints alleging that two federal employees violated the Hatch
Act using government email inappropriately. Details from
Federal Times
Updated Guidance on Acceptance of Payment for Travel Expenses
from a Non-Federal Source The Federal Travel Regulations at
41 CFR Part 304 were updated in 2003. The guidance posted here
incorporates those updates and answers commonly asked questions
related to accepting travel expenses from a non-federal source. The
form that must be filled out to document acceptance of these
expenses is the DI-2000.
Old Honoraria Rules Removed
Last fall, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) published
minor amendments to the Standards of Ethical Conduct regulation (see
62 Federal Register 48746-48748, September 17, 1997) which removed
references to the former honoraria ban (5 U.S.C. app., § 501(b)). In
1996, the Department of Justice had determined that the ban was
inoperative (OGE DAEOgram, Feb. 28, 1996) . The amendments also made
several technical cleanup changes, including updated citations to
the statute on procurement integrity and new cross-references to the
regulation implementing 18 U.S.C. § 208 at 5 CFR part 2640.
OGE will soon publish a follow-up rule making that will complete
the process of eliminating obsolete rules concerning the former
honoraria ban, by amending references and text throughout 5 CFR part
2636 and by entirely removing subpart B of part 2636. Subpart B had
contained substantive provisions interpreting the honoraria ban for
the executive branch. It had also implemented for the executive
branch the supplemental disclosure requirements of the financial
disclosure statute for certain payments to charitable organizations
in lieu of honoraria (5 U.S.C. app., 102(a)(1)(A)), though the
effective date for that provision had been deterred indefinitely.
The supplemental disclosure portion will be preserved in capsule
form as part of the overall financial disclosure rules at 5 CFR part
2634, but will remain dormant, pending further review.
Source: OGE Ethics Newsgram, Spring, 1998.
Outside Income Limit Adjusted for Top
Managers
The maximum amount that executive branch employees subject to the
limitation on outside earned income will be able to receive for
calendar year 1998 is $20.505. Under the law, subject employees may
not receive outside earned income in excess of 15% of the annual
rate of basic pay for Level II of the Executive Schedule. The base
rate used for this calculation is that which is in effect as of
January 1.
A recent Executive order increased the rate of basic pay for a
number of pay systems. Section 3(a) of Executive Order 13071 of
December 29, 1997 (Presidential Documents, 62 Federal Register No.
250, December 31, 1997) increased the basic pay for Level II of the
Executive Schedule to $136,700. That increase became effective on
the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or
after January 1, 1998.
Under OGE's (U.S. Office of Government Ethics) implementing
regulations at 5 CFR 2636.304(a), the effective date of a change in
the Level II pay rate is the date on which a new rate of basic pay
for Level II first becomes applicable to any Level II position. OGE
has consulted with the Office of Personnel Management and has been
advised that htis requirement has been met. Agencies therefore need
not be concerned with the date on which a Level II pay increase
became effective in their agency.
Source: OGE Ethics Newsgram, Spring, 1998 |