April 20, 1995
                                        DO-95-020



MEMORANDUM                         

TO:       Designated Agency Ethics Officials

FROM:     Stephen D. Potts
          Director
   
SUBJECT:  Draft revision to confidential financial disclosure
          report form (SF 450)


     Approval for the current green-shaded SF 450 as a standard
form expires later this year.  Attached is a draft of a revised
form, which we plan to issue as OGE Form 450.  This revision
accomplishes the following:

     o    removes the requirement to disclose information
     about accounts at financial institutions, money market
     funds, and U.S. Government obligations and securities, to
     comport with the 1993 amendment to 5 C.F.R.
     § 2634.907(a); 

     o    rearranges general instructions from the current
     SF 450, for user friendliness;

     o    expands instructions from two to three pages, by
     including specific guidance for each Part of the form,
     and adding examples in the definitions; 

     o    maintains the form itself on two pages;

     o    adds a home address box for special Government
     employees, to assist the reviewer in locating them for
     follow-up information;

     o    clarifies that the box for date of appointment 
     applies only to new entrants;

     o    adds examples on each Part; and

     o    adds blank line space to Part I, by removing some of
     the line space from the other Parts.

     Note that this form has been redrafted within the current
regulatory requirements; therefore, it is not fully responsive to
recommendations that we received during our special audit last
year.  Changes to the substantive elements of the confidential
disclosure system remain under study, as outlined in our DAEOgram
of January 19, 1995 (DO-95-005).

     Conversion to an OGE document rather than a standard form will
streamline the approval and issuing process.  We are exploring
various approaches to distribution of the form when it is
completed.  One possibility is that each agency would reproduce its
own supplies locally, rather than purchasing from the Federal
Supply Service. 

     We would like to finalize and distribute the revised form by
late 1995 or early 1996, but it will not be ready in time for the
annual filing period this fall.  In the interim, we will be seeking
extension of standard form approval for the green SF 450, to
accommodate filing requirements through the end of 1995.

     If you have any comments or suggestions on this draft, please
send them in writing, not later than May 26, 1995, to the Office of
Government Ethics (Attention: Judy Kim).  We will then make any
necessary changes, publish a notice in the Federal Register, and
seek final clearance from the Office of Management and Budget.  

(TEBBS Note: The attachment is not included because it was prepared in
a 'non-text' format.)