Reports Reviewed by OGE

5 U.S.C. app. § 103; 5 C.F.R. § 2634.602

After certification, agencies forward public financial disclosure reports filed by certain individuals to OGE for final certification. These individuals include:

• the Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO);
• nominees and appointees to positions requiring Presidential appointment and Senate confirmation (PAS), other than members of the uniformed services;
• employees of the Executive Office of the President who are appointed under 3 U.S.C. § 105(a)(2)(A) or (B) or 3 U.S.C. § 107(a)(1)(A) or (b)(1)(A)(i) and employees of the Office of the Vice President appointed under 3 U.S.C. § 106(a)(1)(A) or (B).

Limitations

Acting Officials

Agencies do not forward the reports of acting DAEOs or employees who serve in PAS positions in an acting capacity.  OGE, however, does review reports filed by recess appointees to PAS positions.  See OGE DAEOgram DO-07-022 (July 19, 2007).

Days in Position Subject to OGE Review

Agencies forward an Annual or Termination report only if the filer served in one of the position(s) listed above for more than 60 days during the reporting period.

Example:  An employee serves in an SES position for more than 60 days in 2018.  The employee is nominated and confirmed in a PAS position in December 2018.  The employee files an Annual report in May 2019 because the employee served more than 60 days during 2018 in a position for which public financial disclosure is required.  This Annual report, however, need not be forwarded to OGE because the employee did not serve more than 60 days in the PAS position during the reporting period.

Status at Time Report Was Required

The filer’s status in a position subject to OGE review has the following effects:

• Annual report:  Forward only if the filer was in a position subject to OGE review at the end of the calendar year covered by that report. 
• Termination report:  Forward only if the filer was in a position subject to OGE review at the time the filer left public filing status. 
• Periodic Transaction report:  Forward only if the filer was in a position subject to OGE review at the time of filing.

Example:  An employee served in a PAS position for more than 60 days in 2018.  The employee moves to an SES position in December 2018.  The employee files an Annual report in May 2019 because the employee served more than 60 days during 2018 in a position for which public financial disclosure is required.  This Annual report, however, need not be forwarded to OGE because the employee did not serve in a PAS position at the end of 2018.

PAS SGEs Serving More than 60 Days

A PAS appointee who filed a confidential report as a nominee is required to file a public New Entrant report if that appointee does, in fact, serve more than 60 days during a calendar year.  See “Individuals Required to File.”  Agencies do not forward the New Entrant report to OGE; however, the agencies would forward any public Annual, Termination, or Periodic Transaction report that the appointee subsequently files in the position.

Senate Requests

5 U.S.C. app. § 101(b)(1)

Senate committees considering Presidential nominees may request that OGE review the reports of nominees who would not normally be required to file during the confirmation process.  For example, Presidential nominees to boards and commissions who are not expected to serve more than 60 days in any calendar year do not meet the statutory requirement for filing a Nominee report.  Nonetheless, the Senate confirmation committee may require a report from a nominee as part of the confirmation process and may ask that OGE review the report.

Agency Retention of Forwarded Reports

In most cases, reports will be forwarded to OGE through Integrity.  In cases in which a report is forwarded in hard copy, agencies should forward a copy and retain the original for their records.