November 7, 1995
                                         DO-95-037


MEMORANDUM


TO:       Designated Agency Ethics Officials and General Counsels 

FROM:     Stephen D. Potts
          Director

SUBJECT:  Reporting Payments Accepted Under 31 U.S.C. § 1353


     Section 1353 of title 31, United States Code, authorizes the
acceptance by executive branch agencies of payments for travel,
subsistence, and related expenses from non-Federal sources in
connection with the attendance of employees at certain meetings or
similar functions.  The statute provides that the head of each
agency shall submit to the Director of the Office of Government
Ethics (OGE) semiannual reports of payments of more than $250
accepted under this authority.  The next semiannual report must be
submitted to OGE not later than November 30, 1995, concerning
payments received during the period beginning on April 1, 1995, and
ending on September 30, 1995.  Agencies are required to submit
negative reports.

     The reports must set forth certain information specified by
the statute and "such other information as the Administrator of
General Services may prescribe by regulation."  On March 8, 1991,
the General Services Administration (GSA) published an interim rule
implementing 31 U.S.C. § 1353 and its reporting requirement, now
codified at 41 C.F.R. part 304-1.  GSA published a revised interim
rule on November 9, 1992 (57 Fed. Reg. 53283).

     As revised, section 304-1.9(a) of the regulation lists the
information that must be reported by an agency and, to facilitate
uniform reporting, prescribes the order in which that information
must be presented.  While no reporting form is currently authorized
for use, OGE and GSA recently agreed upon a format that should ease
the burden of reporting and make the reports more understandable. 
We anticipate that the new form will be available for use for the
reports due to our Office by May 31, 1996.