Office of Government Ethics – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

After publication of this second round notice, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) plans to submit a modified OGE Form 450 Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure Report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

As part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, OGE seeks comment on the development of a Generic Information Collection Request for the collection of qualitative feedback on agency service delivery for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. This notice announces OGE's intent to submit this collection to the Office of Management and Budget for approval and allows for an additional 30 days of public comment.

After this first round notice and public comment period, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) plans to submit a modified OGE Form 450 Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure Report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

As part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, OGE seeks comment on the development of a Generic Information Collection Request for the collection of qualitative feedback on agency service delivery for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. This notice announces OGE's intent to submit this collection to the Office of Management and Budget for approval and solicits comments on specific aspects for the proposed information collection.

Notice is hereby given of the appointment of members of the updated OGE Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance Review Board.

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is updating its executive branch regulation on financial disclosure to reflect the retroactive statutory increase of the reporting thresholds for gifts and travel reimbursements. OGE is also raising the widely attended gatherings nonsponsor gifts exception dollar ceiling tied to this threshold under the executive branchwide standards of ethical conduct regulation, but this change is not retroactive.

After publication of this second round notice, OGE intends to submit a modified OGE Form 278e Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval of a three-year extension under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

This notice and request seeks input from members of the public with expertise in trust law concerning the following question: Are there any circumstances under which an eligible income beneficiary of a discretionary trust might, in the absence of a vested remainder interest, be able to compel the trust to make a distribution or payment? OGE will take into consideration all relevant expert input submitted by the public within 60 days of the date of this notice. To be considered, any submission exceeding five (5) pages in length must include a one-page summary of key points and conclusions. Commenters are requested to state briefly the nature of their expertise in trust law.

After publication of this second round notice, OGE intends to submit a modified OGE Form 450 Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure Report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval of a three-year extension under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics is issuing a final rule revising the portions of the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Executive Branch Employees that govern the solicitation and acceptance of gifts from outside sources. The final rule modifies the existing regulations to more effectively advance public confidence in the integrity of Federal officials. The final rule also incorporates past interpretive guidance, adds and updates regulatory examples, improves clarity, updates citations, and makes technical corrections.

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is issuing a proposed rule to revise the component designations of two agencies for purposes of the one-year post-employment conflict of interest restriction for senior employees. Specifically, OGE is proposing to revoke two existing component designations and add five new component designations, based on the recommendations of the agencies concerned.

After this first round notice and public comment period, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) plans to submit a modified OGE Form 450 Executive Branch Confidential Financial Disclosure Report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval of a three-year extension under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK Act) was enacted on April 4, 2012. The Act imposed additional financial disclosure requirements on individuals required to file public financial disclosure statements pursuant to the Ethics in Government Act. Pursuant to section 402(b) of the Ethics in Government Act, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is revising the regulations governing financial disclosure to incorporate the new reporting requirements imposed by the STOCK Act. As a part of the revision, OGE also is modernizing language, making changes to the confidential filing requirements, adding and updating examples, and conforming the language of the regulation more closely to that of the Ethics in Government Act. In addition, OGE is proposing an updated definition of ``widely diversified'' for Excepted Investment Fund purposes that brings the definition in line with the definition of ``diversified'' found in the exemptions to the conflicts of interest law governing personal financial interests.

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics is issuing a final rule amending portions of the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch regarding seeking other employment. The final rule incorporates past interpretive advice, updates examples, improves clarity, and makes technical corrections. In addition, the final rule implements the statutory notification requirements that apply to individuals required to file public financial disclosure reports under section 101 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 when they negotiate for or have an agreement of future employment or compensation.

The Office of Government Ethics is proposing to amend the regulation that sets forth the elements and procedures of the executive branch ethics program. This comprehensive revision of 5 CFR part 2638 is informed by the experience gained over the last several decades administering the program, and was developed in consultation with agency ethics officials, the inspector general community, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Department of Justice. The proposed regulation defines and describes the executive branch ethics program, delineates the responsibilities of various stakeholders, and enumerates key executive branch ethics procedures.

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is publishing this first round notice and seeking comment on the twelve executive branch OGE model certificates and model documents for qualified trusts. OGE intends to submit these forms to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval of a three-year extension under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35). OGE is proposing no changes to these forms at this time.

The Office of Government Ethics is proposing to revise the portions of the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Executive Branch Employees that govern the solicitation and acceptance of gifts from outside sources. The proposed amendments modify the existing regulations to more effectively advance public confidence in the integrity of Federal officials. The proposed amendments would also incorporate past interpretive guidance, add and update regulatory examples, improve clarity, update citations and make technical corrections.

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is issuing this rule to revoke the designation, for purposes of the one-year post- employment conflict of interest restriction in the United States Code, of an agency departmental component that was abolished.

The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is issuing this final rule to revoke the designation of one departmental component of one agency and designate a new bureau as a departmental component for purposes of the one-year post-employment conflict of interest restriction in the United States Code; to revoke the designation of two departmental components of another agency and designate their successor bureau as a departmental component; to change the name of an existing departmental component; and to revoke the designation of a departmental component that was abolished.

The Office of Government Ethics is updating its executive branch regulation on financial disclosure to reflect the retroactive statutory increase of the reporting thresholds for gifts and travel reimbursements. As a matter of regulatory policy, OGE is also raising the widely attended gatherings nonsponsor gifts exception dollar ceiling under the executive branchwide standards of ethical conduct regulation, but this change is not retroactive.

The Office of Government Ethics is issuing this final rule to provide notice of the revocation of certain regulatory exemptions of senior employee positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission from certain criminal post-employment restrictions.

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) proposes to modify existing routine uses (a.) and (l.) to OGE/GOVT-1, Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Reports and Other Name-Retrieved Ethics Program Records (OGE/GOVT-1 System of Records). This action is necessary to comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act to publish in the Federal Register notice of the existence and character of records maintained by the agency (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)). OGE last published OGE/GOVT-1 at 68 FR 3098-3109 (January 22, 2003), as corrected at 68 FR 24744 (May 8, 2003). An additional routine use was added to OGE/GOVT-1 at 76 FR 24489 (May 2, 2011) and modified at 77 FR 45353 (July 31, 2012).

The Office of Government Ethics is issuing this final rule to provide notice of the revocation of certain regulatory exemptions of senior employee positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission from the one-year post-employment restrictions of 18 U.S.C. 207(c) and (f).

After publication of this first round notice and public comment period, OGE intends to submit a modified OGE Form 278 Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval of a three-year extension under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is providing notice of request for public comment on its draft FY 2014-2017 Strategic Plan (Plan). The Plan describes OGE's priorities for the next four years. OGE will consider all comments received by the deadline. You may access the Plan at www.oge.gov, or you may obtain a copy of the Plan by sending an email request to OGEStrategicPlan@oge.gov.