[Federal Register: February 2, 1995 (Volume 60, Number 22)] [Rules and Regulations] [Page 6390-6391] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr02fe95-2] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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(as now codified at 5 CFR part 2635), it provided that most existing individual agency standards of conduct would be superseded once the executive branch-wide standards took effect on February 3, 1993.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] BILLING CODE 6345-01-U