March 17, 2006
                                     DO-06-007
 
 
MEMORANDUM  
 
TO:       Designated Agency Ethics Officials
 
FROM:     Marilyn L. Glynn
          Acting Director
 

SUBJECT:  Proposed New OGE Form 450

The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has published a first-round paperwork notice in the March 17, 2006 issue of the Federal Register (See 71 FR 13848-13850) requesting comments on a new proposed OGE Form 450, Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure Report form. A copy of the proposed modified OGE Form 450 may be obtained, without charge, by contacting Jim Parle at 202-482-9300 or at jvparle@oge.gov.  Comments are due by May 31, 2006.

You may remember that, in August of 2005, OGE published notice that it was proposing to modify the OGE Form 450, to improve its clarity and design, and to change in part the information that it collects.  The form that we proposed at that time was distributed and discussed at the September 2005 ethics conference in New York.  In response to the many helpful comments that we received, both at the conference and in writing, we have redesigned the proposed new OGE Form 450 and have now published a first round paperwork notice regarding our improved version. 

As you know, the proposed amendments to the financial disclosure regulation include changing the reporting period to a calendar year cycle and changing the annual filing deadline to February 15.  Because we expect that our proposed amendments to both the regulation and the OGE Form 450 will be finalized this summer, OGE plans to waive this fall's incumbent OGE Form 450 filing.  Thus, instead of submitting their next reports by October 31, 2006, incumbents will file their reports by February 15, 2007, and these reports will cover the fifteen-month period from October 1, 2005 to December 31, 2006.