March 18, 1999
DO-99-011
MEMORANDUM
TO: Designated Agency Ethics Officials
FROM: Stephen D. Potts
Director
SUBJECT: Recent OGE Forms Renewal Matters
Certain of the ethics forms that the Office of Government
Ethics (OGE) sponsors for executive branchwide use require periodic
(usually three year) renewal of approval from the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act or
from the General Services Administration (GSA) under the
interagency reports program. These renewals also present an
opportunity to update the forms as needed. Over the past year, OGE
has been working to secure such forms renewal clearances from both
OMB and GSA, as explained in this memorandum.
Separate DAEOgrams will be issued upon the final clearance of
the more significant updated individual forms, such as the SF 278
and the OGE Forms 450 and 201. In addition to distribution of the
revised forms to departments and agencies by DAEOgram, OGE will
continue its practice of providing electronic copies of these forms
(as modified) in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) file
format on the Ethics Resource Library section of our Internet Web
site (address: http://www.usoge.gov) and in future editions of The
Ethics CD-ROM. In the near future, OGE also plans to provide
electronically fillable copies of these forms on both our Web site
and CD-ROM. Although these fillable electronic versions will still
require that the forms be printed and manually signed by the
filers, the data will be capable of being saved and updated in
subsequent filings.
Proposed Slightly Revised OGE Form 450
OGE recently issued its second round paperwork renewal notice
for a proposed slightly revised OGE Form 450 Executive Branch
Confidential Financial Disclosure Report. Any comments on this
notice are due by April 1, 1999. See the attached copy of
64 Federal Register 10151-10153 (March 2, 1999). The changes
proposed to the OGE Form 450 are minor, mostly stylistic in nature
(including adding a block to indicate page numbers on the report).
One substantive update is noted for the future. The reporting
thresholds for gifts and travel reimbursements, currently set at
$250 per source overall with a $100 de minimis threshold for
aggregation purposes, will have to be adjusted if, as expected
later this year, GSA raises the "minimal value" under the Foreign
Gifts and Decorations Act, 5 U.S.C. § 7342, to over $250 for the
period 1999-2001. Section 102(a)(2)(A) and (B) of the Ethics in
Government Act as amended (the Ethics Act), 5 U.S.C. appendix,
§ 102(a)(2)(A) and (B), requires that the gifts/reimbursements
reporting thresholds be so adjusted. The adjustment would be
modest, but would need to be reflected on both the OGE Form 450 and
the SF 278 (see below). Departments and agencies can obtain a
mark-up copy of the form as proposed for revision from their
respective OGE desk officers. See also the first round paperwork
notice, as published at 63 Federal Register 56189-56191
(October 21, 1998).
Proposed Slightly Revised OGE Form 201
OGE has issued its first round paperwork renewal notice for a
proposed slightly revised version of the OGE Form 201, "Request to
Inspect or Receive Copies of SF 278 Executive Branch Personnel
Public Financial Disclosure Report or Other Covered Record." Any
comments are due by April 20, 1999. See the attached copy of
64 Federal Register 5657-5658 (February 4, 1999). The proposed
minor revisions include a reference to a few types of additional
qualified trust materials available upon request. Moreover, OGE
will adjust the referenced civil monetary penalty under section 104
of the Ethics in Government Act for misuse of an SF 278 report to
which access has been granted from $10,000 to $11,000 once future
rulemakings by OGE and the Department of Justice take effect in
accordance with inflation adjustments provided for under the 1996
Debt Collection Improvement Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2461 note. Finally,
OGE would make certain minor changes to the privacy and paperwork
statements on the form. Departments and agencies can obtain a
mark-up copy of the OGE Form 201 showing all the proposed changes
from their OGE desk officers.
Standard Form 278
OGE will soon publish its first round paperwork renewal notice
for the Standard Form (SF) 278 Executive Branch Personnel Public
Financial Disclosure Report, for three-year renewal. The proposed
updated SF 278 will propose modest changes, not any major revisions
to the form's substance or design. These changes would incorporate
on the form and its instructions the new higher-value categories of
reporting for various items. A required paperwork statement
regarding the necessity of a valid OMB control number on the form
would also be included. For the past three years, agencies have
been asked to notify their filers by memorandum of these matters.
See particularly OGE DAEOgrams DO-96-038 (October 16, 1996) and DO-
96-006 (January 29, 1996). OGE would also adjust the references to
the civil money penalty for misuse of a report and the reporting
thresholds for gifts and travel reimbursements, as explained above
for the OGE Forms 450 and 201, respectively. Furthermore, OGE
would add to the form a new continuation page for transactions.
Finally, OGE would propose to make a few other minor, stylistic
changes, such as updating the dates of examples on the form.
Due to the importance of the SF 278 report form, OGE will
issue separate DAEOgrams for the various stages of its upcoming
paperwork and standard form revision and renewal. Once the updated
SF 278 is approved by OMB (for paperwork renewal) and GSA (for
standard form revision) sometime this fall, the new edition of the
form will be available for purchase nationwide from GSA's Federal
Supply Service Customer Supply Centers and will be posted on the
OGE Web site and ethics CD-ROM.
These forthcoming changes will not affect the annual SF 278
reports for calendar year 1998 which are due to be filed by May 15,
1999. Agencies should continue to use the existing 6/94 edition of
the SF 278 report form (or its immediate predecessor the 1/91
edition) for those forthcoming annual reports.
Other Forms
Last year, OGE secured renewed three-year paperwork clearance
from OMB, until October 31, 2001, for somewhat revised and updated
model Ethics Act-qualified blind and qualified diversified trust
certificates and model drafts. This set of twelve model qualified
trust certificates and drafts is used in the qualified trust
program OGE oversees. See 63 Federal Register 20411-20412
(April 24, 1998), 63 Federal Register 45817-45819 (August 27, 1998)
and 63 Federal Register 58619-58620 (November 2, 1998).
Last summer and fall, OGE obtained three-year renewals from
the General Services Administration of the interagency reports
clearance for two of its forms used by departments and agencies
throughout the executive branch to report covered information to
OGE. The two forms, which OGE also somewhat modified and updated
at the time, are the OGE Form 202 "Notification of Conflict of
Interest Referral" (clearance now extended to August 31, 2001), and
the annual Agency Ethics Program Questionnaire form (clearance now
extended to October 31, 2001). See OGE DAEOgrams DO-98-027
(September 8, 1998) and DO-98-028 (November 4, 1998).
Finally, last year OGE also obtained three-year paperwork
approval, until October 31, 2001, from OMB for a new Public
Financial Disclosure Access Customer Service Survey form. This
survey form will be used at OGE only and will be mailed to members
of the public who request access to SF 278 reports in order to
assess the quality of OGE's service in this important area and to
identify any suggestions for improvement. See 63 Federal Register
33668 (June 19, 1998) and 63 Federal Register 49697-49698
(September 17, 1998).
Attachments