[Federal Register: August 7, 1996 (Volume 61, Number 153)]
[Notices]
[Page 41162-41164]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07au96-88]

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OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request for the Proposed
Paperwork Renewal of the SF 278 Executive Branch Personnel Public
Financial Disclosure Report

AGENCY: Office of Government Ethics (OGE).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Government Ethics has submitted to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) the Standard Form (SF) 278 Executive Branch
Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report which OGE sponsors for a
three-year extension of approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The
SF 278 is henceforth to be accompanied by agency notification to filers
of certain modified reporting requirements not yet incorporated into
the form itself; OGE also intends to work on a future modified form to
eventually replace the existing SF 278.

DATES: Comments on this proposal should be received by September 6,
1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Joseph F. Lackey, Jr., Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget,
New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503;
telephone: 202-395-7316.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Gressman, Office of General
Counsel and Legal Policy, Office of Government Ethics, 1201 New York
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20005-3917; telephone: 202-208-8000 (ext.
1110), FAX: 202-208-8037. A blank SF 278 form may be obtained, without
charge, by contacting Mr. Gressman.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Government Ethics has
submitted to OMB, for three-year approval by OMB under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the existing SF 278
Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report (OMB
control number 3209-0001), without change, for a three-year extension
of approval by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
chapter 35). The current paperwork approval for the SF 278 is scheduled
to expire at the end of

[[Page 41163]]

September 1996. Since, for now (see discussion below), no modification
to the standard form is being proposed, OGE will not need to seek
General Services Administration (GSA) clearance for the request for
extension of OMB paperwork approval.
    On March 6, 1996, OGE published an advance paperwork notice of its
forthcoming request for three-year extension of paperwork approval for
the SF 278 (see 61 FR 8941-8942). Just one comment, from an executive
branch department, was received based on that advance notice. The
department offered to provide OGE detailed comments were OGE to seek
legislative changes to improve the nature and process of information
collected by the SF 278 under the Ethics Act financial disclosure
provisions. As OGE indicated in the advance notice, for now OGE is not
proposing any changes to the existing SF 278 report form, though it is
asking agencies to provide updating notices to filers of certain
changes in the Ethics Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act (see the
discussion below). Moreover, OGE does not intend at this time to seek
any legislative changes to the Ethics Act financial disclosure
provisions (indeed, the law was recently amended, not at OGE's request,
to require more detailed reporting of certain higher-valued items).
Therefore, OGE has determined to proceed with submission of the SF 278
as is to OMB for renewal of paperwork approval. However, OGE has also
indicated that it will consider improvements to the SF 278 in the
future and the commenting department's further input can take place at
that time along with that of other interested agencies and the public.
    As noted in the advance FR notice, OGE, as the supervising ethics
office for the executive branch of the Federal Government under the
Ethics in Government Act (the ``Ethics Act''), is the sponsoring agency
for the SF 278, the most recent edition of which is that of June 1994
(the existing paperwork clearance, for which OGE now is requesting a
three-year extension, is good through the end of September 1996). The
prior January 1991 edition of the SF 278 also remains usable until
supplies are exhausted. In accordance with section 102 of the Ethics in
Government Act, 5 U.S.C. app., 102, and OGE's implementing financial
disclosure regulations at 5 CFR part 2634, the SF 278 collects
pertinent financial information from certain officers and high-level
employees in the executive branch for conflicts of interest review and
public disclosure. The financial information collected under the
statute and regulations relates to: assets and income; transactions;
gifts, reimbursements and travel expenses; liabilities; agreements or
arrangements; outside positions; and compensation over $5,000 paid by a
source--all subject to various reporting thresholds and exclusions.
    The SF 278 is completed by candidates, nominees, new entrants,
incumbents and terminees of certain high-level positions in the
executive branch of the Federal Government. The Office of Government
Ethics, along with the agencies concerned, conducts the review of the
SF 278 reports of Presidential nominees subject to Senate confirmation.
This group of nominee reports forms the basis of OGE's paperwork
estimates. In light of OGE's experience over the past three years
(1993-1995), the estimate of the total number, on average, of such
nominees' SF 278 forms expected to be filed annually at OGE by members
of the public (as opposed to current Federal employees), primarily by
private citizen nominees and private representatives (lawyers,
accountants, brokers and bankers) of both private citizen and Federal
employee nominees, remains 280. The estimated average amount of time to
complete the report form, including review of the instructions, is also
the same--three hours. Thus, the overall estimated annual public burden
for the SF 278 for the nominee report forms processed at the Office of
Government Ethics will stay at 840 hours. Moreover, OGE estimates,
based on the agency ethics program questionnaire responses for 1995,
that some 21,700 SF 278 report forms are filed annually at departments
and agencies throughout the executive branch. Most of those executive
branch filers are current Federal employees at the time they file, but
certain candidates for President and Vice President, nominees, new
entrants and terminees complete the form either before or after their
Government service. The percentage of private citizen filers branchwide
is estimated at no more than 5% to 10%, or some 1,085 to 2,160 at most.
    The Office of Government Ethics is asking executive branch
departments and agencies to notify filers of the SF 278 of certain
recent changes in the reporting law as regards higher-category (over
$1,000,000) assets, income and liabilities. In addition, OGE itself
will notify concerned filers holding qualified blind trusts of a
modification as to reportable trust interests. See sections 20 and 22
of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, Public Law 104- 65, which
amended the Ethics in Government Act. It does not appear at this time
that there will be a need to modify the gifts/reimbursement reporting
thresholds, since the ``minimal value'' threshold as determined by the
General Services Administration in consultation with the Secretary of
State under the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act, 5 U.S.C. 7342, is
likely to remain under $250 for the next three years, 1996-1998 (the
Ethics Act reporting thresholds are pegged to any increase over $250 of
``minimal value''). In the next year or two, OGE intends to begin work
on an eventual successor form to the current version of the SF 278 that
would reflect these recent changes as well as add express mention, on
the public burden information block, of a statement pursuant to the
1995 amendments to the paperwork law to the effect that ``an agency may
not conduct or sponsor, and no person is required to respond to, a
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number,'' together with a parenthetical mention that such
number is displayed in the upper right-hand corner of the front page of
the form. Serious consideration will also be given to any other
appropriate changes, including possible redesign of the form at that
time. That future form may either be a modified standard form or a new
OGE form and will be subject to appropriate clearances before issuance.
Again, for now, OGE is not proposing to modify the SF 278 report form
itself, but rather will ask that departments and agencies notify their
filers of the modifications to the reporting requirements and new
paperwork statement when the existing SF 278 forms are provided for
completion (OGE will notify concerned filers of the changes as to
qualified blind trust interests).
    Based on an OGE request last year as approved by the General
Services Administration, the SF 278 Public Financial Disclosure Report
can now be electronically duplicated without standard form exception
clearance pursuant to GSA's Federal Information Resources Management
Regulation Bulletin B-3, as revised, provided that the bulletin's
strict duplication standards (precisely paralleling the original paper
form to the extent feasible) are complied with. Thus, departments and
agencies can develop their own electronic SF 278 forms. The Office of
Government Ethics also intends to develop a stand-alone electronic SF
278 form that would be made available free of charge or at cost to
executive branch departments and agencies. In addition, that electronic
version of the form could be placed on OGE's electronic bulletin board
entitled

[[Page 41164]]

``The Ethics Bulletin Board System'' (TEBBS). For now, OGE notes that
even with these electronic initiatives, the SF 278 reports, once
completed, will still need to be printed out and signed manually.
Electronic filing is not authorized at this time for the SF 278s.
    Public comment is invited on each aspect of the SF 278 Public
Financial Disclosure Report as set forth in this notice, including
specifically views on the need for and practical utility of this
collection of information, the accuracy of OGE's burden estimate, the
potential for enhancement of quality, utility and clarity of the
information collected, and the minimization of burden (including the
use of information technology). The Office of Government Ethics, in
consultation with OMB, will consider all comments received in response
to this notice. The comments will also become a matter of public
record.

    Approved: August 1, 1996.
Stephen D. Potts,
Director, Office of Government Ethics.
[FR Doc. 96-20141 Filed 8-6-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6345-01-U