I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1603

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) to 

streamline the financial disclosure process for executive branch employees. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 3, 2003

Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia (for herself and Mr. PUTNAM) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 

App.) to streamline the financial disclosure process for 

executive branch employees.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Appoint5 ments Improvement Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are to—
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1 (1) improve the Presidential appointment proc2 ess without violating the spirit and letter of conflict 

3 of interest laws; and 

4 (2) provide a newly elected President the ability 

5 to submit all nominations to the Senate for all Presi6 dential appointments as expeditiously as possible 

7 after the President takes office. 

8 SEC. 3. PUBLIC FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE FOR JUDICIAL 

9 AND LEGISLATIVE PERSONNEL. 

10 Title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 

11 U.S.C. App.) is amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘TITLE I—JUDICIAL AND LEGIS13 LATIVE PERSONNEL FINAN14 CIAL DISCLOSURE REQUIRE15 MENTS 

16 ‘‘SEC. 101. PERSONS REQUIRED TO FILE. 

17 ‘‘(a) Within 30 days of assuming the position of an 

18 officer or employee described in subsection (f), an indi19 vidual shall file a report containing the information de20 scribed in section 102(b) unless the individual has left an21 other position described in subsection (f) or section 201(f) 

22 within 30 days prior to assuming such new position or 

23 has already filed a report under this title with respect to 

24 nomination for the new position or as a candidate for the 

25 position. 
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1 ‘‘(b)(1) Within 5 days of the transmittal by the Presi2 dent to the Senate of the nomination of an individual to 

3 a position in the legislative or judicial branch, appoint4 ment to which requires the advice and consent of the Sen5 ate, such individual shall file a report containing the infor6 mation described in section 102(b). Such individual shall, 

7 not later than the date of the first hearing to consider 

8 the nomination of such individual, make current the report 

9 filed pursuant to this paragraph by filing the information 

10 required by section 102(a)(1)(A) with respect to income 

11 and honoraria received as of the date which occurs 5 days 

12 before the date of such hearing. Nothing in this Act shall 

13 prevent any congressional committee from requesting, as 

14 a condition of confirmation, any additional financial infor15 mation from any Presidential nominee whose nomination 

16 has been referred to that committee. 

17 ‘‘(2) An individual whom the President or the Presi18 dent-elect has publicly announced he intends to nominate 

19 to a position may file the report required by paragraph 

20 (1) at any time after that public announcement, but not 

21 later than is required under the first sentence of such 

22 paragraph. 

23 ‘‘(c) Within 30 days of becoming a candidate as de24 fined in section 301 of the Federal Campaign Act of 1971, 

25 in a calendar year for nomination or election to the office 
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1 of Member of Congress, or on or before May 15 of that 

2 calendar year, whichever is later, but in no event later 

3 than 30 days before the election, and on or before May 

4 15 of each successive year an individual continues to be 

5 a candidate, an individual other than an incumbent Mem6 ber of Congress shall file a report containing the informa7 tion described in section 102(b). Notwithstanding the pre8 ceding sentence, in any calendar year in which an indi9 vidual continues to be a candidate for any office but all 

10 elections for such office relating to such candidacy were 

11 held in prior calendar years, such individual need not file 

12 a report unless he becomes a candidate for another va13 cancy in that office or another office during that year. 

14 ‘‘(d) Any individual who is an officer or employee de15 scribed in subsection (f) during any calendar year and per16 forms the duties of his position or office for a period in 

17 excess of 60 days in that calendar year shall file on or 

18 before May 15 of the succeeding year a report containing 

19 the information described in section 102(a). 

20 ‘‘(e) Any individual who occupies a position described 

21 in subsection (f) shall, on or before the thirtieth day after 

22 termination of employment in such position, file a report 

23 containing the information described in section 102(a) 

24 covering the preceding calendar year if the report required 

25 by subsection (d) has not been filed and covering the por-
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1 tion of the calendar year in which such termination occurs 

2 up to the date the individual left such office or position, 

3 unless such individual has accepted employment in an4 other position described in subsection (f) or section 201(f). 

5 ‘‘(f) The officers and employees referred to in sub6 sections (a), (d), and (e) are—

7 ‘‘(1) a Member of Congress as defined under 

8 section 109(10); 

9 ‘‘(2) an officer or employee of the Congress as 

10 defined under section 109(11); 

11 ‘‘(3) a judicial officer as defined under section 

12 109(8); and 

13 ‘‘(4) a judicial employee as defined under sec14 tion 109(6). 

15 ‘‘(g) Reasonable extensions of time for filing any re16 port may be granted under procedures prescribed by the 

17 supervising ethics office for each branch, but the total of 

18 such extensions shall not exceed 90 days. 

19 ‘‘(h) The provisions of subsections (a), (b), and (e) 

20 shall not apply to an individual who, as determined by the 

21 congressional ethics committees or the Judicial Con22 ference, is not reasonably expected to perform the duties

23 of his office or position for more than 60 days in a cal24 endar year, except that if such individual performs the du-
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1 ties of his office or position for more than 60 days in a 

2 calendar year—

3 ‘‘(1) the report required by subsections (a) and 

4 (b) shall be filed within 15 days of the sixtieth day, 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(2) the report required by subsection (e) shall 

7 be filed as provided in such subsection. 

8 ‘‘(i) The supervising ethics office for each branch may 

9 grant a publicly available request for a waiver of any re10 porting requirement under this section for an individual 

11 who is expected to perform or has performed the duties 

12 of his office or position less than 130 days in a calendar 

13 year, but only if the supervising ethics office determines 

14 that—

15 ‘‘(1) such individual is not a full-time employee 

16 of the Government, 

17 ‘‘(2) such individual is able to provide services 

18 specially needed by the Government, 

19 ‘‘(3) it is unlikely that the individual’s outside 

20 employment or financial interests will create a con21 flict of interest, and 

22 ‘‘(4) public financial disclosure by such indi23 vidual is not necessary in the circumstances.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 102. CONTENTS OF REPORTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) Each report filed pursuant to section 101 (d) 

3 and (e) shall include a full and complete statement with 

4 respect to the following: 

5 ‘‘(1)(A) The source, type, and amount or value 

6 of income (other than income referred to in subpara7 graph (B)) from any source (other than from cur8 rent employment by the United States Government), 

9 and the source, date, and amount of honoraria from 

10 any source, received during the preceding calendar 

11 year, aggregating $200 or more in value and the 

12 source, date, and amount of payments made to char13 itable organizations in lieu of honoraria, and the re14 porting individual shall simultaneously file with the 

15 applicable supervising ethics office, on a confidential 

16 basis, a corresponding list of recipients of all such 

17 payments, together with the dates and amounts of 

18 such payments. 

19 ‘‘(B) The source and type of income which con20 sists of dividends, rents, interest, and capital gains, 

21 received during the preceding calendar year which 

22 exceeds $200 in amount or value, and an indication 

23 of which of the following categories the amount or 

24 value of such item of income is within: 

25 ‘‘(i) Not more than $1,000. 
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1 ‘‘(ii) Greater than $1,000 but not more 

2 than $2,500. 

3 ‘‘(iii) Greater than $2,500 but not more 

4 than $5,000. 

5 ‘‘(iv) Greater than $5,000 but not more 

6 than $15,000. 

7 ‘‘(v) Greater than $15,000 but not more 

8 than $50,000. 

9 ‘‘(vi) Greater than $50,000 but not more 

10 than $100,000. 

11 ‘‘(vii) Greater than $100,000 but not more 

12 than $1,000,000. 

13 ‘‘(viii) Greater than $1,000,000 but not 

14 more than $5,000,000. 

15 ‘‘(ix) Greater than $5,000,000. 

16 ‘‘(2)(A) The identity of the source, a brief de17 scription, and the value of all gifts aggregating more 

18 than the minimal value as established by section 

19 7342(a)(5) of title 5, United States Code, or $250, 

20 whichever is greater, received from any source other 

21 than a relative of the reporting individual during the 

22 preceding calendar year, except that any food, lodg23 ing, or entertainment received as personal hospitality 

24 of an individual need not be reported, and any gift 

25 with a fair market value of $100 or less, as adjusted 
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1 at the same time and by the same percentage as the 

2 minimal value is adjusted, need not be aggregated 

3 for purposes of this subparagraph. 

4 ‘‘(B) The identity of the source and a brief de5 scription (including a travel itinerary, dates, and na6 ture of expenses provided) of reimbursements re7 ceived from any source aggregating more than the 

8 minimal value as established by section 7342(a)(5) 

9 of title 5, United States Code, or $250, whichever is 

10 greater and received during the preceding calendar 

11 year. 

12 ‘‘(C) In an unusual case, a gift need not be ag13 gregated under subparagraph (A) if a publicly avail14 able request for a waiver is granted. 

15 ‘‘(3) The identity and category of value of any 

16 interest in property held during the preceding cal17 endar year in a trade or business, or for investment 

18 or the production of income, which has a fair market 

19 value which exceeds $1,000 as of the close of the 

20 preceding calendar year, excluding any personal li21 ability owed to the reporting individual by a spouse, 

22 or by a parent, brother, sister, or child of the report23 ing individual or of the reporting individual’s spouse, 

24 or any deposits aggregating $5,000 or less in a per25 sonal savings account. For purposes of this para-
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1 graph, a personal savings account shall include any 

2 certificate of deposit or any other form of deposit in 

3 a bank, savings and loan association, credit union, 

4 or similar financial institution. 

5 ‘‘(4) The identity and category of value of the 

6 total liabilities owed to any creditor other than a 

7 spouse, or a parent, brother, sister, or child of the 

8 reporting individual or of the reporting individual’s 

9 spouse which exceed $10,000 at any time during the 

10 preceding calendar year, excluding—

11 ‘‘(A) any mortgage secured by real prop12 erty which is a personal residence of the report13 ing individual or his spouse; and 

14 ‘‘(B) any loan secured by a personal motor 

15 vehicle, household furniture, or appliances, 

16 which loan does not exceed the purchase price 

17 of the item which secures it. 

18 With respect to revolving charge accounts, only 

19 those with an outstanding liability which exceeds 

20 $10,000 as of the close of the preceding calendar 

21 year need be reported under this paragraph. 

22 ‘‘(5) Except as provided in this paragraph, a 

23 brief description, the date, and category of value of 

24 any purchase, sale or exchange during the preceding 

25 calendar year which exceeds $1,000—
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1 ‘‘(A) in real property, other than property 

2 used solely as a personal residence of the re3 porting individual or his spouse; or 

4 ‘‘(B) in stocks, bonds, commodities fu5 tures, and other forms of securities. 

6 Reporting is not required under this paragraph of 

7 any transaction solely by and between the reporting 

8 individual, his spouse, or dependent children. 

9 ‘‘(6)(A) The identity of all positions held on or 

10 before the date of filing during the current calendar 

11 year (and, for the first report filed by an individual, 

12 during the 2-year period preceding such calendar 

13 year) as an officer, director, trustee, partner, propri14 etor, representative, employee, or consultant of any 

15 corporation, company, firm, partnership, or other 

16 business enterprise, any nonprofit organization, any 

17 labor organization, or any educational or other insti18 tution other than the United States. This subpara19 graph shall not require the reporting of positions 

20 held in any religious, social, fraternal, or political 

21 entity and positions solely of an honorary nature. 

22 ‘‘(B) If any person, other than the United 

23 States Government, paid a nonelected reporting indi24 vidual compensation in excess of $5,000 in any of 

25 the 2 calendar years prior to the calendar year dur-
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1 ing which the individual files his first report under 

2 this title, the individual shall include in the report—

3 ‘‘(i) the identity of each source of such 

4 compensation; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) a brief description of the nature of 

6 the duties performed or services rendered by 

7 the reporting individual for each such source. 

8 The preceding sentence shall not require any indi9 vidual to include in such report any information 

10 which is considered confidential as a result of a priv11 ileged relationship, established by law, between such 

12 individual and any person nor shall it require an in13 dividual to report any information with respect to 

14 any person for whom services were provided by any 

15 firm or association of which such individual was a 

16 member, partner, or employee unless such individual 

17 was directly involved in the provision of such serv18 ices. 

19 ‘‘(7) A description of the date, parties to, and 

20 terms of any agreement or arrangement with respect 

21 to—

22 ‘‘(A) future employment; 

23 ‘‘(B) a leave of absence during the period 

24 of the reporting individual’s Government serv25 ice; 
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1 ‘‘(C) continuation of payments by a former 

2 employer other than the United States Govern3 ment; and 

4 ‘‘(D) continuing participation in an em5 ployee welfare or benefit plan maintained by a 

6 former employer. 

7 ‘‘(8) The category of the total cash value of any 

8 interest of the reporting individual in a qualified 

9 blind trust, unless the trust instrument was executed 

10 prior to July 24, 1995, and precludes the beneficiary 

11 from receiving information on the total cash value of 

12 any interest in the qualified blind trust. 

13 ‘‘(b)(1) Each report filed pursuant to subsections (a), 

14 (b), and (c) of section 101 shall include a full and complete 

15 statement with respect to the information required by—

16 ‘‘(A) paragraph (1) of subsection (a) for the 

17 year of filing and the preceding calendar year, 

18 ‘‘(B) paragraphs (3) and (4) of subsection (a) 

19 as of the date specified in the report but which is 

20 less than 31 days before the filing date, and 

21 ‘‘(C) paragraphs (6) and (7) of subsection (a) 

22 as of the filing date but for periods described in 

23 such paragraphs. 

24 ‘‘(2)(A) In lieu of filling out 1 or more schedules of 

25 a financial disclosure form, an individual may supply the 
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1 required information in an alternative format, pursuant 

2 to either rules adopted by the supervising ethics office for 

3 the branch in which such individual serves or pursuant 

4 to a specific written determination by such office for a 

5 reporting individual. 

6 ‘‘(B) In lieu of indicating the category of amount or 

7 value of any item contained in any report filed under this 

8 title, a reporting individual may indicate the exact dollar 

9 amount of such item. 

10 ‘‘(c) In the case of any individual described in section 

11 101(e), any reference to the preceding calendar year shall 

12 be considered also to include that part of the calendar year 

13 of filing up to the date of the termination of employment. 

14 ‘‘(d)(1) The categories for reporting the amount or 

15 value of the items covered in paragraphs (3), (4), (5), and 

16 (8) of subsection (a) are—

17 ‘‘(A) not more than $15,000; 

18 ‘‘(B) greater than $15,000 but not more than 

19 $50,000; 

20 ‘‘(C) greater than $50,000 but not more than 

21 $100,000; 

22 ‘‘(D) greater than $100,000 but not more than 

23 $250,000; 

24 ‘‘(E) greater than $250,000 but not more than 

25 $500,000; 
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1 ‘‘(F) greater than $500,000 but not more than 

2 $1,000,000; 

3 ‘‘(G) greater than $1,000,000 but not more 

4 than $5,000,000; 

5 ‘‘(H) greater than $5,000,000 but not more 

6 than $25,000,000; 

7 ‘‘(I) greater than $25,000,000 but not more 

8 than $50,000,000; and 

9 ‘‘(J) greater than $50,000,000. 

10 ‘‘(2) For the purposes of paragraph (3) of subsection 

11 (a) if the current value of an interest in real property (or 

12 an interest in a real estate partnership) is not ascertain13 able without an appraisal, an individual may list (A) the 

14 date of purchase and the purchase price of the interest 

15 in the real property, or (B) the assessed value of the real 

16 property for tax purposes, adjusted to reflect the market 

17 value of the property used for the assessment if the as18 sessed value is computed at less than 100 percent of such 

19 market value, but such individual shall include in his re20 port a full and complete description of the method used 

21 to determine such assessed value, instead of specifying a 

22 category of value pursuant to paragraph (1) of this sub23 section. If the current value of any other item required 

24 to be reported under paragraph (3) of subsection (a) is 

25 not ascertainable without an appraisal, such individual
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1 may list the book value of a corporation whose stock is 

2 not publicly traded, the net worth of a business partner3 ship, the equity value of an individually owned business, 

4 or with respect to other holdings, any recognized indica5 tion of value, but such individual shall include in his report 

6 a full and complete description of the method used in de7 termining such value. In lieu of any value referred to in 

8 the preceding sentence, an individual may list the assessed 

9 value of the item for tax purposes, adjusted to reflect the 

10 market value of the item used for the assessment if the 

11 assessed value is computed at less than 100 percent of 

12 such market value, but a full and complete description of 

13 the method used in determining such assessed value shall 

14 be included in the report. 

15 ‘‘(e)(1) Except as provided in the last sentence of this 

16 paragraph, each report required by section 101 shall also 

17 contain information listed in paragraphs (1) through (5) 

18 of subsection (a) of this section respecting the spouse or 

19 dependent child of the reporting individual as follows: 

20 ‘‘(A) The source of items of earned income 

21 earned by a spouse from any person which exceed 

22 $1,000 and the source and amount of any honoraria 

23 received by a spouse, except that, with respect to 

24 earned income (other than honoraria), if the spouse 

25 is self-employed in business or a profession, only the 
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1 nature of such business or profession need be re2 ported. 

3 ‘‘(B) All information required to be reported in 

4 subsection (a)(1)(B) with respect to income derived 

5 by a spouse or dependent child from any asset held 

6 by the spouse or dependent child and reported pur7 suant to subsection (a)(3). 

8 ‘‘(C) In the case of any gifts received by a 

9 spouse or dependent child which are not received to10 tally independent of the relationship of the spouse or 

11 dependent child to the reporting individual, the iden12 tity of the source and a brief description of gifts of 

13 transportation, lodging, food, or entertainment and 

14 a brief description and the value of other gifts. 

15 ‘‘(D) In the case of any reimbursements re16 ceived by a spouse or dependent child which are not 

17 received totally independent of the relationship of 

18 the spouse or dependent child to the reporting indi19 vidual, the identity of the source and a brief descrip20 tion of each such reimbursement. 

21 ‘‘(E) In the case of items described in para22 graphs (3) through (5) of subsection (a), all infor23 mation required to be reported under these para24 graphs other than items (i) which the reporting indi25 vidual certifies represent the spouse’s or dependent 
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1 child’s sole financial interest or responsibility and 

2 which the reporting individual has no knowledge of, 

3 (ii) which are not in any way, past or present, de4 rived from the income, assets, or activities of the re5 porting individual, and (iii) from which the reporting 

6 individual neither derives, nor expects to derive, any 

7 financial or economic benefit. 

8 ‘‘(F) For purposes of this section, categories 

9 with amounts or values greater than $1,000,000 set 

10 forth in sections 102 (a)(1)(B) and (d)(1) shall 

11 apply to the income, assets, or liabilities of spouses 

12 and dependent children only if the income, assets, or 

13 liabilities are held jointly with the reporting indi14 vidual. All other income, assets, or liabilities of the 

15 spouse or dependent children required to be reported 

16 under this section in an amount or value greater 

17 than $1,000,000 shall be categorized only as an 

18 amount or value greater than $1,000,000. 

19 Reports required by subsections (a), (b), and (c) of section 

20 101 shall, with respect to the spouse and dependent child 

21 of the reporting individual, only contain information listed 

22 in paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of subsection (a), as speci23 fied in this paragraph. 

24 ‘‘(2) No report shall be required with respect to a 

25 spouse living separate and apart from the reporting indi-
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1 vidual with the intention of terminating the marriage or 

2 providing for permanent separation; or with respect to any 

3 income or obligations of an individual arising from the dis4 solution of his marriage or the permanent separation from 

5 his spouse. 

6 ‘‘(f)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), each re7 porting individual shall report the information required to 

8 be reported pursuant to subsections (a), (b), and (c) of 

9 this section with respect to the holdings of and the income 

10 from a trust or other financial arrangement from which 

11 income is received by, or with respect to which a beneficial 

12 interest in principal or income is held by, such individual, 

13 his spouse, or any dependent child. 

14 ‘‘(2) A reporting individual need not report the hold15 ings of or the source of income from any of the holdings 

16 of—

17 ‘‘(A) any qualified blind trust (as defined in 

18 paragraph (3)); 

19 ‘‘(B) a trust—

20 ‘‘(i) which was not created directly by such 

21 individual, his spouse, or any dependent child, 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(ii) the holdings or sources of income of 

24 which such individual, his spouse, and any de25 pendent child have no knowledge of; or
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1 ‘‘(C) an entity described under the provisions of 

2 paragraph (8), but such individual shall report the 

3 category of the amount of income received by him, 

4 his spouse, or any dependent child from the trust or 

5 other entity under subsection (a)(1)(B) of this sec6 tion. 

7 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘quali8 fied blind trust’ includes any trust in which a reporting 

9 individual, his spouse, or any minor or dependent child 

10 has a beneficial interest in the principal or income, and 

11 which meets the following requirements: 

12 ‘‘(A)(i) The trustee of the trust and any other 

13 entity designated in the trust instrument to perform 

14 fiduciary duties is a financial institution, an attor15 ney, a certified public accountant, a broker, or an in16 vestment advisor who—

17 ‘‘(I) is independent of and not associated 

18 with any interested party so that the trustee or 

19 other person cannot be controlled or influenced 

20 in the administration of the trust by any inter21 ested party; 

22 ‘‘(II) is not and has not been an employee 

23 of or affiliated with any interested party and is 

24 not a partner of, or involved in any joint ven-
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1 ture or other investment with, any interested 

2 party; and 

3 ‘‘(III) is not a relative of any interested 

4 party. 

5 ‘‘(ii) Any officer or employee of a trustee or 

6 other entity who is involved in the management or 

7 control of the trust—

8 ‘‘(I) is independent of and not associated 

9 with any interested party so that such officer or 

10 employee cannot be controlled or influenced in 

11 the administration of the trust by any inter12 ested party; 

13 ‘‘(II) is not a partner of, or involved in any 

14 joint venture or other investment with, any in15 terested party; and 

16 ‘‘(III) is not a relative of any interested 

17 party. 

18 ‘‘(B) Any asset transferred to the trust by an 

19 interested party is free of any restriction with re20 spect to its transfer or sale unless such restriction 

21 is expressly approved by the supervising ethics office 

22 of the reporting individual. 

23 ‘‘(C) The trust instrument which establishes the 

24 trust provides that—
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1 ‘‘(i) except to the extent provided in sub2 paragraph (B) of this paragraph, the trustee in 

3 the exercise of his authority and discretion to 

4 manage and control the assets of the trust shall 

5 not consult or notify any interested party; 

6 ‘‘(ii) the trust shall not contain any asset 

7 the holding of which by an interested party is 

8 prohibited by any law or regulation; 

9 ‘‘(iii) the trustee shall promptly notify the 

10 reporting individual and his supervising ethics 

11 office when the holdings of any particular asset 

12 transferred to the trust by any interested party 

13 are disposed of or when the value of such hold14 ing is less than $1,000; 

15 ‘‘(iv) the trust tax return shall be prepared 

16 by the trustee or his designee, and such return 

17 and any information relating thereto (other 

18 than the trust income summarized in appro19 priate categories necessary to complete an inter20 ested party’s tax return), shall not be disclosed 

21 to any interested party; 

22 ‘‘(v) an interested party shall not receive 

23 any report on the holdings and sources of in24 come of the trust, except a report at the end of 

25 each calendar quarter with respect to the total 
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1 cash value of the interest of the interested party 

2 in the trust or the net income or loss of the 

3 trust or any reports necessary to enable the in4 terested party to complete an individual tax re5 turn required by law or to provide the informa6 tion required by subsection (a)(1) of this sec7 tion, but such report shall not identify any 

8 asset or holding; 

9 ‘‘(vi) except for communications which 

10 solely consist of requests for distributions of 

11 cash or other unspecified assets of the trust, 

12 there shall be no direct or indirect communica13 tion between the trustee and an interested 

14 party with respect to the trust unless such com15 munication is in writing and unless it relates 

16 only (I) to the general financial interest and 

17 needs of the interested party (including, but not 

18 limited to, an interest in maximizing income or 

19 long-term capital gain), (II) to the notification 

20 of the trustee of a law or regulation subse21 quently applicable to the reporting individual 

22 which prohibits the interested party from hold23 ing an asset, which notification directs that the 

24 asset not be held by the trust, or (III) to direc25 tions to the trustee to sell all of an asset ini-
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1 tially placed in the trust by an interested party 

2 which in the determination of the reporting in3 dividual creates a conflict of interest or the ap4 pearance thereof due to the subsequent assump5 tion of duties by the reporting individual (but 

6 nothing herein shall require any such direction); 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(vii) the interested parties shall make no 

9 effort to obtain information with respect to the 

10 holdings of the trust, including obtaining a copy 

11 of any trust tax return filed or any information 

12 relating thereto except as otherwise provided in 

13 this subsection. 

14 ‘‘(D) The proposed trust instrument and the 

15 proposed trustee is approved by the reporting indi16 vidual’s supervising ethics office. 

17 ‘‘(E) For purposes of this subsection, ‘inter18 ested party’ means a reporting individual, his 

19 spouse, and any minor or dependent child; ‘broker’ 

20 has the meaning set forth in section 3(a)(4) of the 

21 Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 

22 78c(a)(4)); and ‘investment adviser’ includes any in23 vestment adviser who, as determined under regula24 tions prescribed by the supervising ethics office, is
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1 generally involved in his role as such an adviser in 

2 the management or control of trusts. 

3 ‘‘(F) Any trust qualified by a supervising ethics 

4 office before January 1, 1991, shall continue to be 

5 governed by the law and regulations in effect imme6 diately before such effective date. 

7 ‘‘(4)(A) An asset placed in a trust by an interested 

8 party shall be considered a financial interest of the report9 ing individual, for the purposes of any applicable conflict 

10 of interest statutes, regulations, or rules of the Federal 

11 Government (including section 208 of title 18, United 

12 States Code), until such time as the reporting individual 

13 is notified by the trustee that such asset has been disposed 

14 of, or has a value of less than $1,000. 

15 ‘‘(B)(i) The provisions of subparagraph (A) shall not 

16 apply with respect to a trust created for the benefit of 

17 a reporting individual, or the spouse, dependent child, or 

18 minor child of such a person, if the supervising ethics of19 fice for such reporting individual finds that—

20 ‘‘(I) the assets placed in the trust consist of a 

21 well-diversified portfolio of readily marketable securi22 ties; 

23 ‘‘(II) none of the assets consist of securities of 

24 entities having substantial activities in the area of 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 the reporting individual’s primary area of responsi2 bility; 

3 ‘‘(III) the trust instrument prohibits the trust4 ee, notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 

5 (3)(C) (iii) and (iv) of this subsection, from making 

6 public or informing any interested party of the sale 

7 of any securities; 

8 ‘‘(IV) the trustee is given power of attorney, 

9 notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 

10 (3)(C)(v) of this subsection, to prepare on behalf of 

11 any interested party the personal income tax returns 

12 and similar returns which may contain information 

13 relating to the trust; and 

14 ‘‘(V) except as otherwise provided in this para15 graph, the trust instrument provides (or in the case 

16 of a trust established prior to January 1, 1991, 

17 which by its terms does not permit amendment, the 

18 trustee, the reporting individual, and any other in19 terested party agree in writing) that the trust shall 

20 be administered in accordance with the requirements 

21 of this subsection and the trustee of such trust 

22 meets the requirements of paragraph (3)(A). 

23 ‘‘(ii) In any instance covered by subparagraph (B) 

24 in which the reporting individual is an individual whose 

25 nomination is being considered by a congressional com-
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 mittee, the reporting individual shall inform the congres2 sional committee considering his nomination before or dur3 ing the period of such individual’s confirmation hearing 

4 of his intention to comply with this paragraph. 

5 ‘‘(5)(A) The reporting individual shall, within 30 

6 days after a qualified blind trust is approved by his super7 vising ethics office, file with such office a copy of—

8 ‘‘(i) the executed trust instrument of such trust 

9 (other than those provisions which relate to the tes10 tamentary disposition of the trust assets), and 

11 ‘‘(ii) a list of the assets which were transferred 

12 to such trust, including the category of value of each 

13 asset as determined under subsection (d) of this sec14 tion. 

15 This subparagraph shall not apply with respect to a trust 

16 meeting the requirements for being considered a qualified 

17 blind trust under paragraph (7) of this subsection. 

18 ‘‘(B) The reporting individual shall, within 30 days 

19 of transferring an asset (other than cash) to a previously 

20 established qualified blind trust, notify his supervising eth21 ics office of the identity of each such asset and the cat22 egory of value of each asset as determined under sub23 section (d) of this section. 

24 ‘‘(C) Within 30 days of the dissolution of a qualified 

25 blind trust, a reporting individual shall—
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(i) notify his supervising ethics office of such 

2 dissolution, and 

3 ‘‘(ii) file with such office a copy of a list of the 

4 assets of the trust at the time of such dissolution 

5 and the category of value under subsection (d) of 

6 this section of each such asset. 

7 ‘‘(D) Documents filed under subparagraphs (A), (B), 

8 and (C) of this paragraph and the lists provided by the 

9 trustee of assets placed in the trust by an interested party 

10 which have been sold shall be made available to the public 

11 in the same manner as a report is made available under 

12 section 105 and the provisions of that section shall apply 

13 with respect to such documents and lists. 

14 ‘‘(E) A copy of each written communication with re15 spect to the trust under paragraph (3)(C)(vi) shall be filed 

16 by the person initiating the communication with the re17 porting individual’s supervising ethics office within 5 days 

18 of the date of the communication. 

19 ‘‘(6)(A) A trustee of a qualified blind trust shall not 

20 knowingly and willfully, or negligently, (i) disclose any in21 formation to an interested party with respect to such trust 

22 that may not be disclosed under paragraph (3) of this sub23 section; (ii) acquire any holding the ownership of which 

24 is prohibited by the trust instrument; (iii) solicit advice 

25 from any interested party with respect to such trust, which 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 solicitation is prohibited by paragraph (3) of this sub2 section or the trust agreement; or (iv) fail to file any docu3 ment required by this subsection. 

4 ‘‘(B) A reporting individual shall not knowingly and 

5 willfully, or negligently, (i) solicit or receive any informa6 tion with respect to a qualified blind trust of which he 

7 is an interested party that may not be disclosed under 

8 paragraph (3)(C) of this subsection or (ii) fail to file any 

9 document required by this subsection. 

10 ‘‘(C)(i) The Attorney General may bring a civil action 

11 in any appropriate United States district court against 

12 any individual who knowingly and willfully violates the 

13 provisions of subparagraph (A) or (B) of this paragraph. 

14 The court in which such action is brought may assess 

15 against such individual a civil penalty in any amount not 

16 to exceed $10,000. 

17 ‘‘(ii) The Attorney General may bring a civil action 

18 in any appropriate United States district court against 

19 any individual who negligently violates the provisions of 

20 subparagraph (A) or (B) of this paragraph. The court in 

21 which such action is brought may assess against such indi22 vidual a civil penalty in any amount not to exceed $5,000. 

23 ‘‘(7) Any trust may be considered to be a qualified 

24 blind trust if—
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(A) the trust instrument is amended to comply 

2 with the requirements of paragraph (3) or, in the 

3 case of a trust instrument which does not by its 

4 terms permit amendment, the trustee, the reporting 

5 individual, and any other interested party agree in 

6 writing that the trust shall be administered in ac7 cordance with the requirements of this subsection 

8 and the trustee of such trust meets the requirements 

9 of paragraph (3)(A); except that in the case of any 

10 interested party who is a dependent child, a parent 

11 or guardian of such child may execute the agreement 

12 referred to in this subparagraph; 

13 ‘‘(B) a copy of the trust instrument (except tes14 tamentary provisions) and a copy of the agreement 

15 referred to in subparagraph (A), and a list of the as16 sets held by the trust at the time of approval by the 

17 supervising ethics office, including the category of 

18 value of each asset as determined under subsection 

19 (d) of this section, are filed with such office and 

20 made available to the public as provided under para21 graph (5)(D) of this subsection; and 

22 ‘‘(C) the supervising ethics office determines 

23 that approval of the trust arrangement as a quali24 fied blind trust is in the particular case appropriate 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 to assure compliance with applicable laws and regu2 lations. 

3 ‘‘(8) A reporting individual shall not be required to 

4 report the financial interests held by a widely held invest5 ment fund (whether such fund is a mutual fund, regulated 

6 investment company, pension or deferred compensation 

7 plan, or other investment fund), if—

8 ‘‘(A)(i) the fund is publicly traded; or 

9 ‘‘(ii) the assets of the fund are widely diversi10 fied; and 

11 ‘‘(B) the reporting individual neither exercises 

12 control over nor has the ability to exercise control 

13 over the financial interests held by the fund. 

14 ‘‘(g) Political campaign funds, including campaign re15 ceipts and expenditures, need not be included in any re16 port filed pursuant to this title. 

17 ‘‘(h) A report filed pursuant to subsection (a), (d), 

18 or (e) of section 101 need not contain the information de19 scribed in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of subsection 

20 (a)(2) with respect to gifts and reimbursements received 

21 in a period when the reporting individual was not an offi22 cer or employee of the Federal Government. 

23 ‘‘(i) A reporting individual shall not be required 

24 under this title to report—
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(1) financial interests in or income derived 

2 from—

3 ‘‘(A) any retirement system under title 5, 

4 United States Code (including the Thrift Sav5 ings Plan under subchapter III of chapter 84 of 

6 such title); or 

7 ‘‘(B) any other retirement system main8 tained by the United States for officers or em9 ployees of the United States, including the 

10 President, or for members of the uniformed 

11 services; or 

12 ‘‘(2) benefits received under the Social Security 

13 Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.). 

14 ‘‘SEC. 103. FILING OF REPORTS. 

15 ‘‘(a) Each supervising ethics office shall develop and 

16 make available forms for reporting the information re17 quired by this title. 

18 ‘‘(b)(1) The reports required under this title shall be 

19 filed by a reporting individual with—

20 ‘‘(A)(i)(I) the Clerk of the House of Represent21 atives, in the case of a Representative in Congress, 

22 a Delegate to Congress, the Resident Commissioner 

23 from Puerto Rico, an officer or employee of the Con24 gress whose compensation is disbursed by the Chief 

25 Administrative Officer of the House of Representa-
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 tives, an officer or employee of the Architect of the 

2 Capitol, the United States Botanic Garden, the Con3 gressional Budget Office, the Government Printing 

4 Office, the Library of Congress, or the Copyright 

5 Royalty Tribunal (including any individual termi6 nating service, under section 101(e), in any office or 

7 position referred to in this subclause), or an indi8 vidual described in section 101(c) who is a candidate 

9 for nomination or election as a Representative in 

10 Congress, a Delegate to Congress, or the Resident 

11 Commissioner from Puerto Rico; and 

12 ‘‘(II) the Secretary of the Senate, in the case 

13 of a Senator, an officer or employee of the Congress 

14 whose compensation is disbursed by the Secretary of 

15 the Senate, an officer or employee of the General 

16 Accounting Office, or the Office of the Attending 

17 Physician (including any individual terminating serv18 ice, under section 101(e), in any office or position 

19 referred to in this subclause), or an individual de20 scribed in section 101(c) who is a candidate for 

21 nomination or election as a Senator; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an officer or employee of the 

23 Congress as described under section 101(f)(2) who is

24 employed by an agency or commission established in 

25 the legislative branch after November 30, 1989—
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(I) the Secretary of the Senate or the 

2 Clerk of the House of Representatives, as the 

3 case may be, as designated in the statute estab4 lishing such agency or commission; or 

5 ‘‘(II) if such statute does not designate 

6 such committee, the Secretary of the Senate for 

7 agencies and commissions established in even 

8 numbered calendar years, and the Clerk of the 

9 House of Representatives for agencies and com10 missions established in odd numbered calendar 

11 years; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the Judicial Conference with regard to a 

13 judicial officer or employee described under para14 graphs (3) and (4) of section 101(f) (including indi15 viduals terminating service in such office or position 

16 under section 101(e) or immediately preceding serv17 ice in such office or position). 

18 ‘‘(2) The date any report is received (and the date 

19 of receipt of any supplemental report) shall be noted on 

20 such report by such committee. 

21 ‘‘(c) A copy of each report filed under this title by 

22 a Member or an individual who is a candidate for the of23 fice of Member shall be sent by the Clerk of the House 

24 of Representatives or Secretary of the Senate, as the case 

25 may be, to the appropriate State officer designated under 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 section 312(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 

2 1971 of the State represented by the Member or in which 

3 the individual is a candidate, as the case may be, within 

4 the 30-day period beginning on the day the report is filed 

5 with the Clerk or Secretary. 

6 ‘‘(d)(1) A copy of each report filed under this title 

7 with the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall be 

8 sent by the Clerk to the Committee on Standards of Offi9 cial Conduct of the House of Representatives within the 

10 7-day period beginning on the day the report is filed. 

11 ‘‘(2) A copy of each report filed under this title with 

12 the Secretary of the Senate shall be sent by the Secretary 

13 to the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate within 

14 the 7-day period beginning on the day the report is filed. 

15 ‘‘(e) In carrying out their responsibilities under this 

16 title with respect to candidates for office, the Clerk of the 

17 House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate 

18 shall avail themselves of the assistance of the Federal 

19 Election Commission. The Commission shall make avail20 able to the Clerk and the Secretary on a regular basis a 

21 complete list of names and addresses of all candidates reg22 istered with the Commission, and shall cooperate and co23 ordinate its candidate information and notification pro24 gram with the Clerk and the Secretary to the greatest ex25 tent possible. 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘SEC. 104. FAILURE TO FILE OR FILING FALSE REPORTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) The Attorney General may bring a civil action 

3 in any appropriate United States district court against 

4 any individual who knowingly and willfully falsifies or who 

5 knowingly and willfully fails to file or report any informa6 tion that such individual is required to report pursuant 

7 to section 102. The court in which such action is brought 

8 may assess against such individual a civil penalty in any 

9 amount, not to exceed $10,000. 

10 ‘‘(b) Each congressional ethics committee or the Ju11 dicial Conference, as the case may be, shall refer to the 

12 Attorney General the name of any individual which such 

13 official or committee has reasonable cause to believe has 

14 willfully failed to file a report or has willfully falsified or 

15 willfully failed to file information required to be reported. 

16 Whenever the Judicial Conference refers a name to the 

17 Attorney General under this subsection, the Judicial Con18 ference also shall notify the judicial council of the circuit 

19 in which the named individual serves of the referral. 

20 ‘‘(c) A congressional ethics committee and the Judi21 cial Conference, may take any appropriate personnel or 

22 other action in accordance with applicable law or regula23 tion against any individual failing to file a report or fal24 sifying or failing to report information required to be re25 ported. 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(d)(1) Any individual who files a report required to 

2 be filed under this title more than 30 days after the later 

3 of—

4 ‘‘(A) the date such report is required to be filed 

5 pursuant to the provisions of this title and the rules 

6 and regulations promulgated thereunder; or 

7 ‘‘(B) if a filing extension is granted to such in8 dividual under section 101(g), the last day of the fil9 ing extension period, shall, at the direction of and 

10 pursuant to regulations issued by the supervising 

11 ethics office, pay a filing fee of $200. All such fees 

12 shall be deposited in the miscellaneous receipts of 

13 the Treasury. 

14 ‘‘(2) The supervising ethics office may waive the fil15 ing fee under this subsection in extraordinary cir16 cumstances. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 105. CUSTODY OF AND PUBLIC ACCESS TO REPORTS. 

18 ‘‘(a) The supervising ethics office of the judicial 

19 branch, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, and 

20 the Secretary of the Senate shall make available to the 

21 public, in accordance with subsection (b), each report filed 

22 under this title with such office or with the Clerk or the 

23 Secretary of the Senate.

24 ‘‘(b)(1) Except as provided in the second sentence of 

25 this subsection, the supervising ethics office in the judicial 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 branch, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, and 

2 the Secretary of the Senate shall, within 30 days after 

3 any report is received under this title by such office or 

4 by the Clerk or the Secretary of the Senate, as the case 

5 may be, permit inspection of such report by or furnish 

6 a copy of such report to any person requesting such in7 spection or copy. With respect to any report required to 

8 be filed by May 15 of any year, such report shall be made 

9 available for public inspection within 30 calendar days 

10 after May 15 of such year or within 30 days of the date 

11 of filing of such a report for which an extension is granted 

12 pursuant to section 101(g). The office, Clerk, or Secretary 

13 of the Senate, as the case may be, may require a reason14 able fee to be paid in any amount which is found necessary 

15 to recover the cost of reproduction or mailing of such re16 port excluding any salary of any employee involved in such 

17 reproduction or mailing. A copy of such report may be 

18 furnished without charge or at a reduced charge if it is 

19 determined that waiver or reduction of the fee is in the 

20 public interest. 

21 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a report may 

22 not be made available under this section to any person 

23 nor may any copy thereof be provided under this section 

24 to any person except upon a written application by such 

25 person stating—
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(A) that person’s name, occupation, and ad2 dress; 

3 ‘‘(B) the name and address of any other person 

4 or organization on whose behalf the inspection or 

5 copy is requested; and 

6 ‘‘(C) that such person is aware of the prohibi7 tions on the obtaining or use of the report. 

8 Any such application shall be made available to the public 

9 throughout the period during which the report is made 

10 available to the public. 

11 ‘‘(3)(A) This section does not require the immediate 

12 and unconditional availability of reports filed by an indi13 vidual described in section 109 (6) or (8) of this Act if 

14 a finding is made by the Judicial Conference, in consulta15 tion with United States Marshal Service, that revealing 

16 personal and sensitive information could endanger that in17 dividual. 

18 ‘‘(B) A report may be redacted pursuant to this para19 graph only—

20 ‘‘(i) to the extent necessary to protect the indi21 vidual who filed the report; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) for as long as the danger to such indi23 vidual exists.

24 ‘‘(C) The Administrative Office of the United States 

25 Courts shall submit to the Committees on the Judiciary 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 of the House of Representatives and of the Senate an an2 nual report with respect to the operation of this paragraph 

3 including—

4 ‘‘(i) the total number of reports redacted pursu5 ant to this paragraph; 

6 ‘‘(ii) the total number of individuals whose re7 ports have been redacted pursuant to this para8 graph; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) the types of threats against individuals 

10 whose reports are redacted, if appropriate. 

11 ‘‘(D) The Judicial Conference, in consultation with 

12 the Department of Justice, shall issue regulations setting 

13 forth the circumstances under which redaction is appro14 priate under this paragraph and the procedures for redac15 tion. 

16 ‘‘(E) This paragraph shall expire on December 31, 

17 2005, and apply to filings through calendar year 2005. 

18 ‘‘(c)(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to obtain 

19 or use a report—

20 ‘‘(A) for any unlawful purpose; 

21 ‘‘(B) for any commercial purpose, other than by 

22 news and communications media for dissemination 

23 to the general public; 

24 ‘‘(C) for determining or establishing the credit 

25 rating of any individual; or 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(D) for use, directly or indirectly, in the solici2 tation of money for any political, charitable, or other 

3 purpose. 

4 ‘‘(2) The Attorney General may bring a civil action 

5 against any person who obtains or uses a report for any 

6 purpose prohibited in paragraph (1) of this subsection. 

7 The court in which such action is brought may assess 

8 against such person a penalty in any amount not to exceed 

9 $10,000. Such remedy shall be in addition to any other 

10 remedy available under statutory or common law. 

11 ‘‘(d) Any report filed with or transmitted to a super12 vising ethics office or to the Clerk of the House of Rep13 resentatives or the Secretary of the Senate pursuant to 

14 this title shall be retained by such office or by the Clerk 

15 or the Secretary of the Senate, as the case may be. Such 

16 report shall be made available to the public for a period 

17 of 6 years after receipt of the report. After such 6-year 

18 period the report shall be destroyed unless needed in an 

19 ongoing investigation, except that in the case of an indi20 vidual who filed the report pursuant to section 101(b) and 

21 was not subsequently confirmed by the Senate, or who 

22 filed the report pursuant to section 101(c) and was not 

23 subsequently elected, such reports shall be destroyed 1 

24 year after the individual either is no longer under consid25 eration by the Senate or is no longer a candidate for nomi-
42

•HR 1603 IH 

1 nation or election to the Office of President, Vice Presi2 dent, or as a Member of Congress, unless needed in an 

3 ongoing investigation. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 106. REVIEW OF REPORTS. 

5 ‘‘(a) Each congressional ethics committee and the Ju6 dicial Conference shall make provisions to ensure that 

7 each report filed under this title is reviewed within 60 days 

8 after the date of such filing. 

9 ‘‘(b)(1) If after reviewing any report under subsection 

10 (a), a person designated by the congressional ethics com11 mittee or a person designated by the Judicial Conference, 

12 as the case may be, is of the opinion that on the basis 

13 of information contained in such report the individual sub14 mitting such report is in compliance with applicable laws 

15 and regulations, he shall state such opinion on the report, 

16 and shall sign such report. 

17 ‘‘(2) If a person designated by the congressional eth18 ics committee, or a person designated by the Judicial Con19 ference, after reviewing any report under subsection (a)—

20 ‘‘(A) believes additional information is required 

21 to be submitted, he shall notify the individual sub22 mitting such report what additional information is 

23 required and the time by which it must be sub24 mitted, or 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(B) is of the opinion, on the basis of informa2 tion submitted, that the individual is not in compli3 ance with applicable laws and regulations, he shall 

4 notify the individual, afford a reasonable opportunity 

5 for a written or oral response, and after consider6 ation of such response, reach an opinion as to 

7 whether or not, on the basis of information sub8 mitted, the individual is in compliance with such 

9 laws and regulations. 

10 ‘‘(3) If a person designated by a congressional ethics 

11 committee or a person designated by the Judicial Con12 ference, reaches an opinion under paragraph (2)(B) that 

13 an individual is not in compliance with applicable laws and 

14 regulations, the official or committee shall notify the indi15 vidual of that opinion and, after an opportunity for per16 sonal consultation (if practicable), determine and notify 

17 the individual of which steps, if any, would in the opinion 

18 of such official or committee be appropriate for assuring 

19 compliance with such laws and regulations and the date 

20 by which such steps should be taken. Such steps may in21 clude, as appropriate—

22 ‘‘(A) divestiture, 

23 ‘‘(B) restitution, 

24 ‘‘(C) the establishment of a blind trust, 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(D) request for an exemption under section 

2 208(b) of title 18, United States Code, or 

3 ‘‘(E) voluntary request for transfer, reassign4 ment, limitation of duties, or resignation. 

5 The use of any such steps shall be in accordance with such 

6 rules or regulations as the supervising ethics office may 

7 prescribe. 

8 ‘‘(4) If steps for assuring compliance with applicable 

9 laws and regulations are not taken by the date set under 

10 paragraph (3) by an individual in a position appointment 

11 to which requires the advice and consent of the Senate 

12 but removal authority resides in the President, the matter 

13 shall be referred to the President for appropriate action. 

14 ‘‘(5) If steps for assuring compliance with applicable 

15 laws and regulations are not taken by the date set under 

16 paragraph (3) by any other officer or employee, the matter 

17 shall be referred to the congressional ethics committee or 

18 the Judicial Conference, for appropriate action. 

19 ‘‘(6) Each supervising ethics office may render advi20 sory opinions interpreting this title within its respective

21 jurisdiction. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

22 the individual to whom a public advisory opinion is ren23 dered in accordance with this paragraph, and any other 

24 individual covered by this title who is involved in a fact

25 situation which is indistinguishable in all material aspects, 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 and who acts in good faith in accordance with the provi2 sions and findings of such advisory opinion shall not, as 

3 a result of such act, be subject to any penalty or sanction 

4 provided by this title. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 107. CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS AND OTHER ADDI6 TIONAL REQUIREMENTS. 

7 ‘‘(a)(1) Each supervising ethics office may require of8 ficers and employees under its jurisdiction (including spe9 cial Government employees as defined in section 202 of 

10 title 18, United States Code) to file confidential financial 

11 disclosure reports, in such form as the supervising ethics 

12 office may prescribe. The information required to be re13 ported under this subsection by the officers and employees 

14 of the legislative or judicial branch shall be set forth in 

15 rules or regulations prescribed by the supervising ethics 

16 office, and may be less extensive than otherwise required 

17 by this title, or more extensive when determined by the 

18 supervising ethics office to be necessary and appropriate 

19 in light of sections 202 through 209 of title 18, United 

20 States Code, regulations promulgated thereunder, official 

21 codes of conduct or the authorized activities of such offi22 cers or employees. Any individual required to file a report 

23 pursuant to section 101 shall not be required to file a con24 fidential report pursuant to this subsection, except with 

25 respect to information which is more extensive than infor-
46

•HR 1603 IH 

1 mation otherwise required by this title. Subsections (a), 

2 (b), and (d) of section 105 shall not apply with respect 

3 to any such report. 

4 ‘‘(2) Any information required to be provided by an 

5 individual under this subsection shall be confidential and 

6 shall not be disclosed to the public. 

7 ‘‘(3) Nothing in this subsection exempts any indi8 vidual otherwise covered by the requirement to file a public 

9 financial disclosure report under this title from such re10 quirement. 

11 ‘‘(b) The provisions of this title requiring the report12 ing of information shall supersede any general require13 ment under any other provision of law or regulation with 

14 respect to the reporting of information required for pur15 poses of preventing conflicts of interest or apparent con16 flicts of interest. Such provisions of this title shall not su17 persede the requirements of section 7342 of title 5, United 

18 States Code. 

19 ‘‘(c) Nothing in this Act requiring reporting of infor20 mation shall be deemed to authorize—

21 ‘‘(1) the receipt of income, gifts, or reimburse22 ments; 

23 ‘‘(2) the holding of assets, liabilities, or posi24 tions; or 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(3) the participation in transactions that are 

2 prohibited by law, rule, or regulation. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 108. AUTHORITY OF COMPTROLLER GENERAL. 

4 ‘‘(a) The Comptroller General shall have access to fi5 nancial disclosure reports filed under this title for the pur6 poses of carrying out his statutory responsibilities. 

7 ‘‘(b) Not later than December 31, 1992, and regu8 larly thereafter, the Comptroller General shall conduct a 

9 study to determine whether the provisions of this title are 

10 being carried out effectively. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 109. DEFINITIONS. 

12 ‘‘For the purposes of this title, the term—

13 ‘‘(1) ‘congressional ethics committees’ means 

14 the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate and 

15 the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct of 

16 the House of Representatives; 

17 ‘‘(2) ‘dependent child’ means, when used with 

18 respect to any reporting individual, any individual 

19 who is a son, daughter, stepson, or stepdaughter and 

20 who—

21 ‘‘(A) is unmarried and under age 21 and 

22 is living in the household of such reporting indi23 vidual; or 

24 ‘‘(B) is a dependent of such reporting indi25 vidual within the meaning of section 152 of the 
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1 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 

2 152); 

3 ‘‘(3) ‘gift’ means a payment, advance, forbear4 ance, rendering, or deposit of money, or any thing 

5 of value, unless consideration of equal or greater 

6 value is received by the donor, but does not in7 clude—

8 ‘‘(A) bequest and other forms of inherit9 ance; 

10 ‘‘(B) suitable mementos of a function hon11 oring the reporting individual; 

12 ‘‘(C) food, lodging, transportation, and en13 tertainment provided by a foreign government 

14 within a foreign country or by the United 

15 States Government, the District of Columbia, or 

16 a State or local government or political subdivi17 sion thereof; 

18 ‘‘(D) food and beverages which are not 

19 consumed in connection with a gift of overnight 

20 lodging; 

21 ‘‘(E) communications to the offices of a re22 porting individual, including subscriptions to 

23 newspapers and periodicals; or 

24 ‘‘(F) consumable products provided by 

25 home-State businesses to the offices of a report-
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ing individual who is an elected official, if those 

2 products are intended for consumption by per3 sons other than such reporting individual; 

4 ‘‘(4) ‘honoraria’ has the meaning given such 

5 term in section 505 of this Act; 

6 ‘‘(5) ‘income’ means all income from whatever 

7 source derived, including but not limited to the fol8 lowing items: compensation for services, including 

9 fees, commissions, and similar items; gross income 

10 derived from business (and net income if the indi11 vidual elects to include it); gains derived from deal12 ings in property; interest; rents; royalties; dividends; 

13 annuities; income from life insurance and endow14 ment contracts; pensions; income from discharge of 

15 indebtedness; distributive share of partnership in16 come; and income from an interest in an estate or 

17 trust; 

18 ‘‘(6) ‘judicial employee’ means any employee of 

19 the judicial branch of the Government, of the United 

20 States Sentencing Commission, of the Tax Court, of

21 the Court of Federal Claims, of the Court of Ap22 peals for Veterans Claims, or of the United States 

23 Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, who is not 

24 a judicial officer and who is authorized to perform 

25 adjudicatory functions with respect to proceedings in
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 the judicial branch, or who occupies a position for 

2 which the rate of basic pay is equal to or greater 

3 than 120 percent of the minimum rate of basic pay 

4 payable for GS–15 of the General Schedule; 

5 ‘‘(7) ‘Judicial Conference’ means the Judicial 

6 Conference of the United States; 

7 ‘‘(8) ‘judicial officer’ means the Chief Justice of 

8 the United States, the Associate Justices of the Su9 preme Court, and the judges of the United States 

10 courts of appeals, United States district courts, in11 cluding the district courts in Guam, the Northern 

12 Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands, Court of 

13 Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Court of Inter14 national Trade, Tax Court, Court of Federal Claims, 

15 Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, United States 

16 Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and any 

17 court created by Act of Congress, the judges of 

18 which are entitled to hold office during good behav19 ior; 

20 ‘‘(9) ‘legislative branch’ includes—

21 ‘‘(A) the Architect of the Capitol; 

22 ‘‘(B) the Botanic Gardens; 

23 ‘‘(C) the Congressional Budget Office; 

24 ‘‘(D) the General Accounting Office; 

25 ‘‘(E) the Government Printing Office; 
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1 ‘‘(F) the Library of Congress; 

2 ‘‘(G) the United States Capitol Police; 

3 ‘‘(H) the Office of Compliance; and 

4 ‘‘(I) any other agency, entity, office, or 

5 commission established in the legislative branch; 

6 ‘‘(10) ‘Member of Congress’ means a United 

7 States Senator, a Representative in Congress, a Del8 egate to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner 

9 from Puerto Rico; 

10 ‘‘(11) ‘officer or employee of the Congress’ 

11 means—

12 ‘‘(A) any individual described under sub13 paragraph (B), other than a Member of Con14 gress or the Vice President, whose compensa15 tion is disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate 

16 or the Chief Administrative Officer of the 

17 House of Representatives; 

18 ‘‘(B)(i) each officer or employee of the leg19 islative branch who, for at least 60 days, occu20 pies a position for which the rate of basic pay 

21 is equal to or greater than 120 percent of the 

22 minimum rate of basic pay payable for GS–15 

23 of the General Schedule; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) at least 1 principal assistant des25 ignated for purposes of this paragraph by each 
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1 Member who does not have an employee who 

2 occupies a position for which the rate of basic 

3 pay is equal to or greater than 120 percent of 

4 the minimum rate of basic pay payable for GS–

5 15 of the General Schedule; 

6 ‘‘(12) ‘personal hospitality of any individual’ 

7 means hospitality extended for a nonbusiness pur8 pose by an individual, not a corporation or organiza9 tion, at the personal residence of that individual or 

10 his family or on property or facilities owned by that 

11 individual or his family; 

12 ‘‘(13) ‘reimbursement’ means any payment or 

13 other thing of value received by the reporting indi14 vidual, other than gifts, to cover travel-related ex15 penses of such individual other than those which 

16 are—

17 ‘‘(A) provided by the United States Gov18 ernment, the District of Columbia, or a State or 

19 local government or political subdivision thereof;

20 ‘‘(B) required to be reported by the report21 ing individual under section 7342 of title 5, 

22 United States Code; or 

23 ‘‘(C) required to be reported under section 

24 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 

25 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434); 
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1 ‘‘(14) ‘relative’ means an individual who is re2 lated to the reporting individual, as father, mother, 

3 son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, great 

4 aunt, great uncle, first cousin, nephew, niece, hus5 band, wife, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, 

6 granddaughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in7 law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, 

8 stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, step9 brother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, or who 

10 is the grandfather or grandmother of the spouse of 

11 the reporting individual, and shall be deemed to in12 clude the fiance ́ or fiance ́e of the reporting indi13 vidual; 

14 ‘‘(15) ‘supervising ethics office’ means—

15 ‘‘(A) the Select Committee on Ethics of 

16 the Senate, for Senators, officers and employees 

17 of the Senate, and other officers, or employees 

18 of the legislative branch required to file finan19 cial disclosure reports with the Secretary of the 

20 Senate pursuant to section 103(h) of this title; 

21 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Standards of Offi22 cial Conduct of the House of Representatives, 

23 for Members, officers, and employees of the 

24 House of Representatives and other officers or 

25 employees of the legislative branch required to 
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1 file financial disclosure reports with the Clerk 

2 of the House of Representatives pursuant to 

3 section 103(h) of this title; and 

4 ‘‘(C) the Judicial Conference for judicial 

5 officers and judicial employees; and 

6 ‘‘(16) ‘value’ means a good faith estimate of the 

7 dollar value if the exact value is neither known nor 

8 easily obtainable by the reporting individual. 

9 ‘‘SEC. 110. NOTICE OF ACTIONS TAKEN TO COMPLY WITH 

10 ETHICS AGREEMENTS. 

11 ‘‘(a) In any case in which an individual agrees with 

12 a Senate confirmation committee, a congressional ethics 

13 committee, or the Judicial Conference, to take any action 

14 to comply with this Act or any other law or regulation 

15 governing conflicts of interest of, or establishing standards 

16 of conduct applicable with respect to, officers or employees 

17 of the Government, that individual shall notify in writing 

18 the appropriate committee of the Senate, the congressional

19 ethics committee, or the Judicial Conference, as the case 

20 may be, of any action taken by the individual pursuant 

21 to that agreement. Such notification shall be made not 

22 later than the date specified in the agreement by which 

23 action by the individual must be taken, or not later than 

24 3 months after the date of the agreement, if no date for 

25 action is so specified. 
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1 ‘‘(b) If an agreement described in subsection (a) re2 quires that the individual recuse himself or herself from 

3 particular categories of agency or other official action, the 

4 individual shall reduce to writing those subjects regarding 

5 which the recusal agreement will apply and the process 

6 by which it will be determined whether the individual must 

7 recuse himself or herself in a specific instance. An indi8 vidual shall be considered to have complied with the re9 quirements of subsection (a) with respect to such recusal 

10 agreement if such individual files a copy of the document 

11 setting forth the information described in the preceding 

12 sentence with the appropriate supervising ethics office 

13 within the time prescribed in the last sentence of sub14 section (a). 

15 ‘‘SEC. 111. ADMINISTRATION OF PROVISIONS. 

16 ‘‘The provisions of this title shall be administered 

17 by—

18 ‘‘(1) the Select Committee on Ethics of the 

19 Senate and the Committee on Standards of Official 

20 Conduct of the House of Representatives, as appro21 priate, with regard to officers and employees de22 scribed in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 101(f); 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(2) the Judicial Conference in the case of an 

25 officer or employee described in paragraphs (3) and 
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1 (4) of section 101(f). The Judicial Conference may 

2 delegate any authority it has under this title to an 

3 ethics committee established by the Judicial Con4 ference.’’. 

5 SEC. 4. PUBLIC FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE FOR THE EXECU6 TIVE BRANCH. 

7 The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 

8 App.) is amended by inserting after title I the following: 

9 ‘‘TITLE II—EXECUTIVE PER10 SONNEL FINANCIAL DISCLO11 SURE REQUIREMENTS 

12 ‘‘SEC. 201. PERSONS REQUIRED TO FILE. 

13 ‘‘(a) Within 30 days of assuming the position of an 

14 officer or employee described in subsection (f), an indi15 vidual shall file a report containing the information de16 scribed in section 202(b) unless the individual has left an17 other position described in subsection (f) of this section 

18 or section 101(f) of this Act within 30 days prior to as19 suming such new position or has already filed a report 

20 under this title with respect to nomination for the new 

21 position or as a candidate for the position. 

22 ‘‘(b)(1) Within 5 days of the transmittal by the Presi23 dent to the Senate of the nomination of an individual 

24 (other than an individual nominated for appointment to 

25 a position as a Foreign Service Officer or a grade or rank 
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1 in the uniformed services for which the pay grade pre2 scribed by section 201 of title 37, United States Code, is 

3 O–6 or below) to a position in the executive branch, ap4 pointment to which requires the advice and consent of the 

5 Senate, such individual shall file a report containing the 

6 information described in section 202(b). Such individual 

7 shall, not later than the date of the first hearing to con8 sider the nomination of such individual, make current the 

9 report filed pursuant to this paragraph by filing the infor10 mation required by section 202(a)(1)(A) with respect to 

11 income and honoraria received as of the date which occurs 

12 5 days before the date of such hearing. Nothing in this 

13 Act shall prevent any congressional committee from re14 questing, as a condition of confirmation, any additional 

15 financial information from any Presidential nominee 

16 whose nomination has been referred to that committee.

17 ‘‘(2) An individual whom the President or the Presi18 dent-elect has publicly announced he intends to nominate 

19 to a position may file the report required by paragraph 

20 (1) at any time after that public announcement, but not 

21 later than is required under the first sentence of such 

22 paragraph. 

23 ‘‘(c)(1) Within 30 days of becoming a candidate as 

24 defined in section 301 of the Federal Campaign Act of 

25 1971, in a calendar year for nomination or election to the 
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1 office of President or Vice President or on or before May 

2 15 of that calendar year, whichever is later, but in no 

3 event later than 30 days before the election, and on or 

4 before May 15 of each successive year an individual con5 tinues to be a candidate, an individual other than an in6 cumbent President or Vice President shall file a report 

7 containing the information described in section 202(b). 

8 Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, in any calendar 

9 year in which an individual continues to be a candidate 

10 for any office but all elections for such office relating to 

11 such candidacy were held in prior calendar years, such in12 dividual need not file a report unless he becomes a can13 didate for another vacancy in that office or another office 

14 during that year. 

15 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), within 30 days 

16 of taking the oath of office of President or Vice President, 

17 an individual shall file a report containing the information 

18 described in section 202(b) unless such individual served 

19 as President or Vice President immediately prior to taking 

20 that oath. 

21 ‘‘(d) Any individual who is an officer or employee de22 scribed in subsection (f) during any calendar year and per23 forms the duties of his position or office for a period in 

24 excess of 60 days in that calendar year shall file on or 
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1 before May 15 of the succeeding year a report containing 

2 the information described in section 202(a). 

3 ‘‘(e) Any individual who occupies a position described 

4 in subsection (f) shall, on or before the thirtieth day after 

5 termination of employment in such position, file a report 

6 containing the information described in section 202(a) 

7 covering the preceding calendar year if the report required 

8 by subsection (d) has not been filed and covering the por9 tion of the calendar year in which such termination occurs 

10 up to the date the individual left such office or position, 

11 unless such individual has accepted employment in or 

12 takes the oath of office for another position described in 

13 subsection (f) or section 101(f). 

14 ‘‘(f) The officers and employees referred to in sub15 sections (a), (d), and (e) are—

16 ‘‘(1) the President; 

17 ‘‘(2) the Vice President;

18 ‘‘(3) each officer or employee in the executive 

19 branch, including a special Government employee as 

20 defined in section 202 of title 18, United States 

21 Code, who occupies a position classified above GS–

22 15 of the General Schedule or, in the case of posi23 tions not under the General Schedule, for which the 

24 rate of basic pay is equal to or greater than 120 per25 cent of the minimum rate of basic pay payable for 
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1 GS–15 of the General Schedule; each member of a 

2 uniformed service whose pay grade is at or in excess 

3 of O–7 under section 201 of title 37, United States 

4 Code; and each officer or employee in any other po5 sition determined by the Director of the Office of 

6 Government Ethics to be of equal classification; 

7 ‘‘(4) each employee appointed pursuant to sec8 tion 3105 of title 5, United States Code; 

9 ‘‘(5) any employee not described in paragraph 

10 (3) who is in a position in the executive branch 

11 which is excepted from the competitive service by 

12 reason of being of a confidential or policymaking 

13 character, except that the Director of the Office of 

14 Government Ethics may, by regulation, exclude from 

15 the application of this paragraph any individual, or 

16 group of individuals, who are in such positions, but 

17 only in cases in which the Director determines such 

18 exclusion would not affect adversely the integrity of 

19 the Government or the public’s confidence in the in20 tegrity of the Government;

21 ‘‘(6) the Postmaster General, the Deputy Post22 master General, each Governor of the Board of Gov23 ernors of the United States Postal Service, each offi24 cer or employee of the United States Postal Service 

25 who is designated as a member of the Postal Career 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 Executive Service (PCES I or II), and each officer 

2 or employee of the Postal Rate Commission who oc3 cupies a position for which the rate of basic pay is 

4 equal to or greater than 120 percent of the min5 imum rate of basic pay payable for GS–15 of the 

6 General Schedule; 

7 ‘‘(7) the Director of the Office of Government 

8 Ethics and each designated agency ethics official; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(8) any civilian employee not described in 

11 paragraph (3), employed in the Executive Office of 

12 the President (other than a special Government em13 ployee) who holds a commission of appointment from 

14 the President. 

15 ‘‘(g)(1) Reasonable extensions of time for filing any 

16 report may be granted under procedures prescribed by the 

17 Office of Government Ethics, but the total of such exten18 sions shall not exceed 90 days. 

19 ‘‘(2)(A) In the case of an individual who is serving 

20 in the Armed Forces, or serving in support of the Armed 

21 Forces, in an area while that area is designated by the 

22 President by Executive order as a combat zone for pur23 poses of section 112 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

24 1986, the date for the filing of any report shall be ex25 tended so that the date is 180 days after the later of—
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ‘‘(i) the last day of the individual’s service in 

2 such area during such designated period; or 

3 ‘‘(ii) the last day of the individual’s hospitaliza4 tion as a result of injury received or disease con5 tracted while serving in such area. 

6 ‘‘(B) The Office of Government Ethics, in consulta7 tion with the Secretary of Defense, may prescribe proce8 dures under this paragraph. 

9 ‘‘(h) The provisions of subsections (a), (b), and (e) 

10 shall not apply to an individual who, as determined by the 

11 designated agency ethics official or Secretary concerned 

12 (or in the case of a Presidential appointee under sub13 section (b), the Director of the Office of Government Eth14 ics), is not reasonably expected to perform the duties of 

15 his office or position for more than 60 days in a calendar 

16 year, except that if such individual performs the duties

17 of his office or position for more than 60 days in a cal18 endar year—

19 ‘‘(1) the report required by subsections (a) and 

20 (b) shall be filed within 15 days of the sixtieth day, 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(2) the report required by subsection (e) shall 

23 be filed as provided in such subsection. 

24 ‘‘(i) The Director of the Office of Government Ethics 

25 may grant a publicly available request for a waiver of any 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 reporting requirement under this section for an individual 

2 who is expected to perform or has performed the duties 

3 of his office or position less than 130 days in a calendar 

4 year, but only if the Director determines that—

5 ‘‘(1) such individual is not a full-time employee 

6 of the Government, 

7 ‘‘(2) such individual is able to provide services 

8 specially needed by the Government, 

9 ‘‘(3) it is unlikely that the individual’s outside 

10 employment or financial interests will create a con11 flict of interest, and 

12 ‘‘(4) public financial disclosure by such indi13 vidual is not necessary in the circumstances. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 202. CONTENTS OF REPORTS. 

15 ‘‘(a) Each report filed pursuant to section 201(d) and 

16 (e) shall include a full and complete statement with re17 spect to the following: 

18 ‘‘(1)(A) The source, description, and category 

19 of value of income (other than income referred to in 

20 subparagraph (B)) from any source (other than 

21 from current employment by the United States Gov22 ernment), received during the preceding calendar 

23 year, aggregating more than $500 in value, except 

24 that honoraria received during Government service 

25 by an officer or employee shall include, in addition 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 to the source, the exact amount and the date it was 

2 received. 

3 ‘‘(B) The source and description of investment 

4 income which may include but is not limited to divi5 dends, rents, interest, and capital gains, received 

6 during the preceding calendar year which exceeds 

7 $500 in amount or value. 

8 ‘‘(C) The categories for reporting the amount 

9 for income covered in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 

10 this paragraph are—

11 ‘‘(i) greater than $500 but not more than 

12 $20,000; 

13 ‘‘(ii) greater than $20,000 but not more 

14 than $100,000;

15 ‘‘(iii) greater than $100,000 but not more 

16 than $1,000,000; 

17 ‘‘(iv) greater than $1,000,000 but not 

18 more than $2,500,000; and 

19 ‘‘(v) greater than $2,500,000. 

20 ‘‘(2)(A) The identity of the source, a brief de21 scription, and the value of all gifts aggregating more 

22 than the minimal value as established by section 

23 7342(a)(5) of title 5, United States Code, or $250, 

24 whichever is greater, received from any source other 

25 than a relative of the reporting individual during the 
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1 preceding calendar year, except that any food, lodg2 ing, or entertainment received as personal hospitality 

3 of an individual need not be reported, and any gift 

4 with a fair market value of $100 or less, as adjusted 

5 at the same time and by the same percentage as the 

6 minimal value is adjusted, need not be aggregated 

7 for purposes of this subparagraph. 

8 ‘‘(B) The identity of the source and a brief de9 scription (including dates of travel and nature of ex10 penses provided) of reimbursements received from 

11 any source aggregating more than the minimal value 

12 as established by section 7342(a)(5) of title 5, 

13 United States Code, or $250, whichever is greater 

14 and received during the preceding calendar year.

15 ‘‘(C) In an unusual case, a gift need not be ag16 gregated under subparagraph (A) if a publicly avail17 able request for a waiver is granted. 

18 ‘‘(3) The identity and category of value of any 

19 interest in property held during the preceding cal20 endar year in a trade or business, or for investment 

21 or the production of income, which has a fair market 

22 value which exceeds $5,000 as of the close of the 

23 preceding calendar year, excluding any personal li24 ability owed to the reporting individual by a spouse, 

25 or by a parent, brother, sister, or child of the report-
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 ing individual or of the reporting individual’s spouse, 

2 or any deposit accounts aggregating $100,000 or 

3 less in a financial institution, or any Federal Gov4 ernment securities aggregating $100,000 or less. 

5 ‘‘(4) The identity and category of value of the 

6 total liabilities owed to any creditor other than a 

7 spouse, or a parent, brother, sister, or child of the 

8 reporting individual or of the reporting individual’s 

9 spouse which exceed $20,000 at any time during the 

10 preceding calendar year, excluding—

11 ‘‘(A) any mortgage secured by real prop12 erty which is a personal residence of the report13 ing individual or his spouse; and 

14 ‘‘(B) any loan secured by a personal motor 

15 vehicle, household furniture, or appliances, 

16 which loan does not exceed the purchase price 

17 of the item which secures it. 

18 With respect to revolving charge accounts, only 

19 those with an outstanding liability which exceeds 

20 $20,000 as of the close of the preceding calendar 

21 year need be reported under this paragraph. Not22 withstanding the preceding sentence, individuals re23 quired to file pursuant to section 201(b), shall also 

24 report the aggregate sum of the outstanding bal25 ances of all revolving charge accounts as of any date 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 that is within 30 days of the date of filing if the ag2 gregate sum of those balances exceeds $20,000. 

3 ‘‘(5) Except as provided in this paragraph, a 

4 brief description of any real property, other than 

5 property used solely as a personal residence of the 

6 reporting individual or his spouse, or stocks, bonds, 

7 commodities futures, and other forms of securities, 

8 if—

9 ‘‘(A) purchased, sold, or exchanged during 

10 the preceding calendar year; 

11 ‘‘(B) the value of the transaction exceeded 

12 $5,000; and

13 ‘‘(C) the property or security is not already 

14 required to be reported as a source of income 

15 pursuant to paragraph (1)(B) or as an asset 

16 pursuant to paragraph (3) of this section. 

17 ‘‘(6)(A) The identity of all positions held on or 

18 before the date of filing during the current calendar 

19 year (and, for the first report filed by an individual, 

20 during the 1-year period preceding such calendar 

21 year) as an officer, director, trustee, partner, propri22 etor, representative, employee, or consultant of any 

23 corporation, company, firm, partnership, or other 

24 business enterprise, any nonprofit organization, any 

25 labor organization, or any educational or other insti-
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1 tution other than the United States. This subpara2 graph shall not require the reporting of positions 

3 held in any religious, social, fraternal, or political 

4 entity and positions solely of an honorary nature. 

5 ‘‘(B) If any person, other than a person re6 ported as a source of income under paragraph 

7 (1)(A) or the United States Government, paid a 

8 nonelected reporting individual compensation in ex9 cess of $25,000 in the calendar year prior to or the 

10 calendar year in which the individual files his first 

11 report under this title, the individual shall include in 

12 the report—

13 ‘‘(i) the identity of each source of such 

14 compensation; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) a brief description of the nature of 

16 the duties performed or services rendered by 

17 the reporting individual for each such source. 

18 The preceding sentence shall not require any indi19 vidual to include in such report any information 

20 which is considered confidential as a result of a priv21 ileged relationship, established by law, between such 

22 individual and any person or any information which 

23 the person for whom the services are provided has 

24 a reasonable expectation of privacy, nor shall it re25 quire an individual to report any information with 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 respect to any person for whom services were pro2 vided by any firm or association of which such indi3 vidual was a member, partner, or employee unless 

4 such individual was directly involved in the provision 

5 of such services. 

6 ‘‘(7) A description of parties to and terms of 

7 any agreement or arrangement with respect to (A) 

8 future employment; (B) a leave of absence during 

9 the period of the reporting individual’s Government 

10 service; (C) continuation of payments by a former 

11 employer other than the United States Government; 

12 and (D) continuing participation in an employee wel13 fare or benefit plan maintained by a former em14 ployer. The description of any formal agreement for 

15 future employment shall include the date on which 

16 that agreement was entered into. 

17 ‘‘(8) The category of the total cash value of any 

18 interest of the reporting individual in a qualified 

19 blind trust. 

20 ‘‘(b)(1) Each report filed pursuant to subsections (a), 

21 (b), and (c) of section 201 shall include a full and complete 

22 statement with respect to the information required by—

23 ‘‘(A) paragraphs (1) and (6) of subsection (a) 

24 for the year of filing and the preceding calendar 

25 year, 
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1 ‘‘(B) paragraphs (3) and (4) of subsection (a) 

2 as of the date specified in the report but which is 

3 less than 31 days before the filing date, and 

4 ‘‘(C) paragraph (7) of subsection (a) as of the 

5 filing date but for periods described in such para6 graph. 

7 ‘‘(2)(A) In lieu of filling out 1 or more sched8 ules of a financial disclosure form, an individual may 

9 supply the required information in an alternative 

10 format, pursuant to either rules adopted by the Of11 fice of Government Ethics or pursuant to a specific

12 written determination by the Director for a report13 ing individual. 

14 ‘‘(B) In lieu of indicating the category of 

15 amount or value of any item contained in any report 

16 filed under this title, a reporting individual may in17 dicate the exact dollar amount of such item. 

18 ‘‘(c)(1) In the case of any individual referred to in 

19 section 201(d), the Office of Government Ethics may by 

20 regulation require a reporting period to include any period 

21 in which the individual served as an officer or employee 

22 described in section 201(f) and the period would not other23 wise be covered by any public report filed pursuant to this 

24 title. 
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1 ‘‘(2) In the case of any individual referred to in sec2 tion 201(e), any reference to the preceding calendar year 

3 shall be considered also to include that part of the cal4 endar year of filing up to the date of the termination of 

5 employment. 

6 ‘‘(d)(1) The categories for reporting the amount or 

7 value of the items covered in paragraph (3) of subsection 

8 (a) are—

9 ‘‘(A) greater than $5,000 but not more than 

10 $15,000; 

11 ‘‘(B) greater than $15,000 but not more than 

12 $100,000; 

13 ‘‘(C) greater than $100,000 but not more than 

14 $1,000,000; 

15 ‘‘(D) greater than $1,000,000 but not more 

16 than $2,500,000; and 

17 ‘‘(E) greater than $2,500,000. 

18 ‘‘(2) For the purposes of paragraph (3) of subsection 

19 (a) if the current value of an interest in real property (or 

20 an interest in a real estate partnership) is not ascertain21 able without an appraisal, an individual may list (A) the 

22 date of purchase and the purchase price of the interest 

23 in the real property, or (B) the assessed value of the real 

24 property for tax purposes, adjusted to reflect the market 

25 value of the property used for the assessment if the as-
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 sessed value is computed at less than 100 percent of such 

2 market value, but such individual shall include in his re3 port a full and complete description of the method used 

4 to determine such assessed value, instead of specifying a 

5 category of value pursuant to paragraph (1) of this sub6 section. If the current value of any other item required 

7 to be reported under paragraph (3) of subsection (a) is 

8 not ascertainable without an appraisal, such individual 

9 may list the book value of a corporation whose stock is 

10 not publicly traded, the net worth of a business partner11 ship, the equity value of an individually owned business, 

12 or with respect to other holdings, any recognized indica13 tion of value, but such individual shall include in his report 

14 a full and complete description of the method used in de15 termining such value. In lieu of any value referred to in 

16 the preceding sentence, an individual may list the assessed 

17 value of the item for tax purposes, adjusted to reflect the 

18 market value of the item used for the assessment if the 

19 assessed value is computed at less than 100 percent of 

20 such market value, but a full and complete description of 

21 the method used in determining such assessed value shall 

22 be included in the report. 

23 ‘‘(3) The categories for reporting the amount or value 

24 of the items covered in paragraphs (4) and (8) of sub25 section (a) are—
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1 ‘‘(A) greater than $20,000 but not more than 

2 $100,000; 

3 ‘‘(B) greater than $100,000 but not more than 

4 $500,000; 

5 ‘‘(C) greater than $500,000 but not more than 

6 $1,000,000; and 

7 ‘‘(D) greater than $1,000,000. 

8 ‘‘(e)(1) Except as provided in the last sentence of this 

9 paragraph, each report required by section 201 shall also 

10 contain information listed in paragraphs (1) through (5) 

11 of subsection (a) of this section respecting the spouse or 

12 dependent child of the reporting individual as follows:

13 ‘‘(A) The sources of earned income earned by 

14 a spouse including honoraria which exceed $500 ex15 cept that, with respect to earned income if the 

16 spouse is self-employed in business or a profession, 

17 only the nature of such business or profession need 

18 be reported. 

19 ‘‘(B) All information required to be reported in 

20 subsection (a)(1)(B) with respect to investment in21 come derived by a spouse or dependent child. 

22 ‘‘(C) In the case of any gifts received by a 

23 spouse or dependent child which are not received to24 tally independent of the relationship of the spouse or 

25 dependent child to the reporting individual, the iden-
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1 tity of the source and a brief description of gifts of 

2 transportation, lodging, food, or entertainment and 

3 a brief description and the value of other gifts. 

4 ‘‘(D) In the case of any reimbursements re5 ceived by a spouse or dependent child which are not 

6 received totally independent of the relationship of 

7 the spouse or dependent child to the reporting indi8 vidual, the identity of the source and a brief descrip9 tion of each such reimbursement. 

10 ‘‘(E) In the case of items described in para11 graphs (3) through (5) of subsection (a), all infor12 mation required to be reported under these para13 graphs other than items which the reporting indi14 vidual certifies (i) represent the spouse’s or depend15 ent child’s sole financial interest or responsibility 

16 and which the reporting individual has no knowledge 

17 of, (ii) are not in any way, past or present, derived 

18 from the income, assets, or activities of the reporting 

19 individual, and (iii) that he neither derives, nor ex20 pects to derive, any financial or economic benefit. 

21 ‘‘(F) Reports required by subsections (a), (b), 

22 and (c) of section 201 shall, with respect to the 

23 spouse and dependent child of the reporting indi24 vidual, only contain information listed in paragraphs 
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1 (1), (3), and (4) of subsection (a), as specified in 

2 this paragraph. 

3 ‘‘(2) No report shall be required with respect to a 

4 spouse living separate and apart from the reporting indi5 vidual with the intention of terminating the marriage or 

6 providing for permanent separation; or with respect to any 

7 income or obligations of an individual arising from the dis8 solution of his marriage or the permanent separation from 

9 his spouse. 

10 ‘‘(f)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), each re11 porting individual shall report the information required to 

12 be reported pursuant to subsections (a), (b), and (c) of 

13 this section with respect to the holdings of and the income

14 from a trust or other financial arrangement from which 

15 income is received by, or with respect to which a beneficial 

16 interest in principal or income is held by, such individual, 

17 his spouse, or any dependent child. 

18 ‘‘(2) A reporting individual need not report the hold19 ings of or the source of income from any of the holdings 

20 of—

21 ‘‘(A) any qualified blind trust (as defined in 

22 paragraph (3)); 

23 ‘‘(B) a trust—
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1 ‘‘(i) which was not created directly by such 

2 individual, his spouse, or any dependent child, 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(ii) the holdings or sources of income of 

5 which such individual, his spouse, and any de6 pendent child have no knowledge of; or 

7 ‘‘(C) an entity described under the provisions of 

8 paragraph (8), but such individual shall report the 

9 category of the amount of income received by him, 

10 his spouse, or any dependent child from the entity 

11 under subsection (a)(1)(B) of this section. 

12 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘quali13 fied blind trust’ includes any trust in which a reporting 

14 individual, his spouse, or any minor or dependent child 

15 has a beneficial interest in the principal or income, and 

16 which meets the following requirements: 

17 ‘‘(A)(i) The trustee of the trust and any other 

18 entity designated in the trust instrument to perform 

19 fiduciary duties is a financial institution, an attor20 ney, a certified public accountant, a broker, or an in21 vestment advisor who—

22 ‘‘(I) is independent of and not associated 

23 with any interested party so that the trustee or 

24 other person cannot be controlled or influenced 
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1 in the administration of the trust by any inter2 ested party; 

3 ‘‘(II) is not and has not been an employee 

4 of or affiliated with any interested party and is 

5 not a partner of, or involved in any joint ven6 ture or other investment with, any interested 

7 party; and 

8 ‘‘(III) is not a relative of any interested 

9 party. 

10 ‘‘(ii) Any officer or employee of a trustee or 

11 other entity who is involved in the management or 

12 control of the trust—

13 ‘‘(I) is independent of and not associated 

14 with any interested party so that such officer or 

15 employee cannot be controlled or influenced in

16 the administration of the trust by any inter17 ested party; 

18 ‘‘(II) is not a partner of, or involved in any 

19 joint venture or other investment with, any in20 terested party; and 

21 ‘‘(III) is not a relative of any interested 

22 party. 

23 ‘‘(B) Any asset transferred to the trust by an 

24 interested party is free of any restriction with re25 spect to its transfer or sale unless such restriction 
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1 is expressly approved by the Office of Government 

2 Ethics. 

3 ‘‘(C) The trust instrument which establishes the 

4 trust provides that— 

5 ‘‘(i) except to the extent provided in sub6 paragraph (B) of this paragraph, the trustee in 

7 the exercise of his authority and discretion to 

8 manage and control the assets of the trust shall 

9 not consult or notify any interested party; 

10 ‘‘(ii) the trust shall not contain any asset 

11 the holding of which by an interested party is 

12 prohibited by any law or regulation; 

13 ‘‘(iii) the trustee shall promptly notify the 

14 reporting individual and the Office of Govern15 ment Ethics when the holdings of any par16 ticular asset transferred to the trust by any in17 terested party are disposed of or when the value 

18 of such holding is less than $1,000; 

19 ‘‘(iv) the trust tax return shall be prepared 

20 by the trustee or his designee, and such return 

21 and any information relating thereto (other 

22 than the trust income summarized in appro23 priate categories necessary to complete an inter24 ested party’s tax return), shall not be disclosed 

25 to any interested party; 
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1 ‘‘(v) an interested party shall not receive 

2 any report on the holdings and sources of in3 come of the trust, except a report at the end of 

4 each calendar quarter with respect to the total 

5 cash value of the interest of the interested party 

6 in the trust or the net income or loss of the 

7 trust or any reports necessary to enable the in8 terested party to complete an individual tax re9 turn required by law or to provide the informa10 tion required by subsection (a)(1) of this sec11 tion, but such report shall not identify any 

12 asset or holding; 

13 ‘‘(vi) except for communications which 

14 solely consist of requests for distributions of 

15 cash or other unspecified assets of the trust,

16 there shall be no direct or indirect communica17 tion between the trustee and an interested 

18 party with respect to the trust unless such com19 munication is in writing and unless it relates 

20 only (I) to the general financial interest and 

21 needs of the interested party (including, but not 

22 limited to, an interest in maximizing income or 

23 long-term capital gain), (II) to the notification 

24 of the trustee of a law or regulation subse25 quently applicable to the reporting individual 
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1 which prohibits the interested party from hold2 ing an asset, which notification directs that the 

3 asset not be held by the trust, or (III) to direc4 tions to the trustee to sell all of an asset ini5 tially placed in the trust by an interested party 

6 which in the determination of the reporting in7 dividual creates a conflict of interest or the ap8 pearance thereof due to the subsequent assump9 tion of duties by the reporting individual (but 

10 nothing herein shall require any such direction); 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(vii) the interested parties shall make no 

13 effort to obtain information with respect to the 

14 holdings of the trust, including obtaining a copy 

15 of any trust tax return filed or any information

16 relating thereto except as otherwise provided in 

17 this subsection. 

18 ‘‘(D) The proposed trust instrument and the 

19 proposed trustee is approved by the Office of Gov20 ernment Ethics. 

21 ‘‘(E) For purposes of this subsection, ‘inter22 ested party’ means a reporting individual, his 

23 spouse, and any minor or dependent child; ‘broker’ 

24 has the meaning set forth in section 3(a)(4) of the 

25 Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 
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•HR 1603 IH 

1 78c(a)(4)); and ‘investment adviser’ includes any in2 vestment adviser who, as determined under regula3 tions prescribed by the supervising ethics office, is 

4 generally involved in his role as such an adviser in 

5 the management or control of trusts. 

6 ‘‘(4)(A) An asset placed in a trust by an interested 

7 party shall be considered a financial interest of the report8 ing individual, for the purposes of any applicable conflict 

9 of interest statutes, regulations, or rules of the Federal 

10 Government (including section 208 of title 18, United 

11 States Code), until such time as the reporting individual 

12 is notified by the trustee that such asset has been disposed 

13 of, or has a value of less than $1,000. 

14 ‘‘(B)(i) The provisions of subparagraph (A) shall not 

15 apply with respect to a trust created for the benefit of 

16 a reporting individual, or the spouse, dependent child, or 

17 minor child of such a person, if the Office of Government 

18 Ethics finds that—

19 ‘‘(I) the assets placed in the trust consist of a 

20 well-diversified portfolio of readily marketable securi21 ties; 

22 ‘‘(II) none of the assets consist of securities of 

23 entities having substantial activities in the area of 

24 the reporting individual’s primary area of responsi25 bility; 
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1 ‘‘(III) the trust instrument prohibits the trust2 ee, notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 

3 (3)(C) (iii) and (iv) of this subsection, from making 

4 public or informing any interested party of the sale 

5 of any securities; 

6 ‘‘(IV) the trustee is given power of attorney, 

7 notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 

8 (3)(C)(v) of this subsection, to prepare on behalf of 

9 any interested party the personal income tax returns 

10 and similar returns which may contain information 

11 relating to the trust; and 

12 ‘‘(V) except as otherwise provided in this para13 graph, the trust instrument provides (or in the case 

14 of a trust which by its terms does not permit amend15 ment, the trustee, the reporting individual, and any

16 other interested party agree in writing) that the 

17 trust shall be administered in accordance with the 

18 requirements of this subsection and the trustee of 

19 such trust meets the requirements of paragraph 

20 (3)(A). 

21 ‘‘(ii) In any instance covered by subparagraph (B) 

22 in which the reporting individual is an individual whose 

23 nomination is being considered by a congressional com24 mittee, the reporting individual shall inform the congres25 sional committee considering his nomination before or dur-
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1 ing the period of such individual’s confirmation hearing 

2 of his intention to comply with this paragraph. 

3 ‘‘(5)(A) The reporting individual shall, within 30 

4 days after a qualified blind trust is approved by the Office 

5 of Government Ethics, file with such office a copy of—

6 ‘‘(i) the executed trust instrument of such trust 

7 (other than those provisions which relate to the tes8 tamentary disposition of the trust assets), and 

9 ‘‘(ii) a list of the assets which were transferred 

10 to such trust, including the category of value of each 

11 asset as determined under subsection (d) of this sec12 tion. 

13 This subparagraph shall not apply with respect to a trust 

14 meeting the requirements for being considered a qualified 

15 blind trust under paragraph (7) of this subsection. 

16 ‘‘(B) The reporting individual shall, within 30 days 

17 of transferring an asset (other than cash) to a previously 

18 established qualified blind trust, notify the Office of Gov19 ernment Ethics of the identity of each such asset and the 

20 category of value of each asset as determined under sub21 section (d) of this section. 

22 ‘‘(C) Within 30 days of the dissolution of a qualified 

23 blind trust, a reporting individual shall notify the Office 

24 of Government Ethics of such dissolution. 
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1 ‘‘(D) Documents filed under subparagraphs (A), (B), 

2 and (C) of this paragraph and the lists provided by the 

3 trustee of assets placed in the trust by an interested party 

4 which have been sold shall be made available to the public 

5 in the same manner as a report is made available under 

6 section 205 and the provisions of that section shall apply 

7 with respect to such documents and lists. 

8 ‘‘(E) A copy of each written communication with re9 spect to the trust under paragraph (3)(C)(vi) shall be filed 

10 by the person initiating the communication with the Office 

11 of Government Ethics within 5 days of the date of the 

12 communication. 

13 ‘‘(6)(A) A trustee of a qualified blind trust shall not 

14 knowingly and willfully, or negligently, (i) disclose any in15 formation to an interested party with respect to such trust 

16 that may not be disclosed under paragraph (3) of this sub17 section; (ii) acquire any holding the ownership of which 

18 is prohibited by the trust instrument; (iii) solicit advice 

19 from any interested party with respect to such trust, which 

20 solicitation is prohibited by paragraph (3) of this sub21 section or the trust agreement; or (iv) fail to file any docu22 ment required by this subsection. 

23 ‘‘(B) A reporting individual shall not knowingly and 

24 willfully, or negligently, (i) solicit or receive any informa25 tion with respect to a qualified blind trust of which he 
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1 is an interested party that may not be disclosed under 

2 paragraph (3)(C) of this subsection or (ii) fail to file any 

3 document required by this subsection. 

4 ‘‘(C)(i) The Attorney General may bring a civil action 

5 in any appropriate United States district court against 

6 any individual who knowingly and willfully violates the 

7 provisions of subparagraph (A) or (B) of this paragraph. 

8 The court in which such action is brought may assess 

9 against such individual a civil penalty in any amount not 

10 to exceed $10,000. 

11 ‘‘(ii) The Attorney General may bring a civil action 

12 in any appropriate United States district court against 

13 any individual who negligently violates the provisions of 

14 subparagraph (A) or (B) of this paragraph. The court in 

15 which such action is brought may assess against such indi16 vidual a civil penalty in any amount not to exceed $5,000.

17 ‘‘(7) Any trust may be considered to be a qualified 

18 blind trust if—

19 ‘‘(A) the trust instrument is amended to comply 

20 with the requirements of paragraph (3) or, in the 

21 case of a trust instrument which does not by its 

22 terms permit amendment, the trustee, the reporting 

23 individual, and any other interested party agree in 

24 writing that the trust shall be administered in ac25 cordance with the requirements of this subsection 
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1 and the trustee of such trust meets the requirements 

2 of paragraph (3)(A); except that in the case of any 

3 interested party who is a dependent child, a parent 

4 or guardian of such child may execute the agreement 

5 referred to in this subparagraph; 

6 ‘‘(B) a copy of the trust instrument (except tes7 tamentary provisions) and a copy of the agreement 

8 referred to in subparagraph (A), and a list of the as9 sets held by the trust at the time of approval by the 

10 Office of Government Ethics, including the category 

11 of value of each asset as determined under sub12 section (d) of this section, are filed with such office 

13 and made available to the public as provided under 

14 paragraph (5)(D) of this subsection; and 

15 ‘‘(C) the Director of the Office of Government 

16 Ethics determines that approval of the trust ar17 rangement as a qualified blind trust is in the par18 ticular case appropriate to assure compliance with 

19 applicable laws and regulations. 

20 ‘‘(8) A reporting individual shall not be required to 

21 report the financial interests held by a widely held invest22 ment fund (whether such fund is a mutual fund, regulated 

23 investment company, pension or deferred compensation 

24 plan, or other investment fund), if—

25 ‘‘(A)(i) the fund is publicly traded; or 
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1 ‘‘(ii) the assets of the fund are widely diversi2 fied; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the reporting individual neither exercises 

4 control over nor has the ability to exercise control 

5 over the financial interests held by the fund. 

6 ‘‘(9)(A)(i) A reporting individual described in sub7 section (a) or (b) of section 201 shall not be required to 

8 report the holdings or sources of income of any trust or 

9 investment fund where—

10 ‘‘(I) reporting would result in the disclosure of 

11 assets or sources of income of another person whose 

12 interests are not required to be reported by the re13 porting individual under this title; 

14 ‘‘(II) the disclosure of such assets and sources 

15 of income is prohibited by contract or the assets and

16 sources of income are not otherwise publicly avail17 able; and 

18 ‘‘(III) the reporting individual has executed a 

19 written ethics agreement which contains a general 

20 description of the trust or investment fund and a 

21 commitment to divest the interest in the trust or in22 vestment fund not later than 90 days after the date 

23 of the agreement. 

24 ‘‘(ii) An agreement described under clause (i)(III) 

25 shall be attached to the public financial disclosure which 
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1 would otherwise include a listing of the holdings or sources 

2 of income from this trust or investment fund. 

3 ‘‘(B)(i) The provisions of subparagraph (A) shall 

4 apply to an individual described in subsection (d) or (e) 

5 of section 201 if—

6 ‘‘(I) the interest in the trust or investment fund 

7 is acquired involuntarily during the period to be cov8 ered by the report, such as through marriage or in9 heritance, and 

10 ‘‘(II) for an individual described in subsection 

11 (d), the individual executes a written ethics agree12 ment containing a commitment to divest the interest 

13 no later than 90 days after the date on which the 

14 report is due. 

15 ‘‘(ii) An agreement described under clause (i)(II) 

16 shall be attached to the public financial disclosure which 

17 would otherwise include a listing of the holdings or sources 

18 of income from this trust or investment fund. 

19 ‘‘(iii) Failure to divest within the time specified or 

20 after an extension granted by the Director of the Office 

21 of Government Ethics for good cause shown shall result 

22 in an immediate requirement to report as specified in 

23 paragraph (1) of this subsection. 
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1 ‘‘(g) Political campaign funds, including campaign re2 ceipts and expenditures, need not be included in any re3 port filed pursuant to this title. 

4 ‘‘(h) A report filed pursuant to subsection (a), (d), 

5 or (e) of section 201 need not contain the information de6 scribed in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of subsection 

7 (a)(2) with respect to gifts and reimbursements received 

8 in a period when the reporting individual was not an offi9 cer or employee of the Federal Government. 

10 ‘‘(i) A reporting individual shall not be required 

11 under this title to report—

12 ‘‘(1) financial interests in or income derived 

13 from—

14 ‘‘(A) any retirement system under title 5, 

15 United States Code (including the Thrift Sav16 ings Plan under subchapter III of chapter 84 of 

17 such title); or 

18 ‘‘(B) any other retirement system main19 tained by the United States for officers or em20 ployees of the United States, including the 

21 President, or for members of the uniformed 

22 services; or 

23 ‘‘(2) benefits received under the Social Security 

24 Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.). 
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1 ‘‘(j)(1) Every month each designated agency ethics 

2 officer shall submit to the Office of Government Ethics 

3 notification of any waiver of criminal conflict of interest 

4 laws granted to any individual in the preceding month 

5 with respect to a filing under this title that is not confiden6 tial. 

7 ‘‘(2) Every month the Office of Government Ethics 

8 shall make publicly available on the Internet—

9 ‘‘(A) all notifications of waivers submitted 

10 under paragraph (1) in the preceding month; and 

11 ‘‘(B) notification of all waivers granted by the 

12 Office of Government Ethics in the preceding 

13 month. 

14 ‘‘(k) A full copy of any waiver of criminal conflict 

15 of interest laws granted shall be included with any filing

16 required under this title with respect to the year in which 

17 the waiver is granted. 

18 ‘‘(l) The Office of Government Ethics shall provide 

19 upon request any waiver on file for which notice has been 

20 published. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 203. FILING OF REPORTS. 

22 ‘‘(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the 

23 reports required under this title shall be filed by the re24 porting individual with the designated agency ethics offi25 cial at the agency by which he is employed (or in the case 
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1 of an individual described in section 201(e), was em2 ployed) or in which he will serve. The date any report is 

3 received (and the date of receipt of any supplemental re4 port) shall be noted on such report by such official. 

5 ‘‘(b) The President and the Vice President shall file 

6 reports required under this title with the Director of the 

7 Office of Government Ethics. 

8 ‘‘(c) Copies of the reports required to be filed under 

9 this title by the Postmaster General, the Deputy Post10 master General, the Governors of the Board of Governors 

11 of the United States Postal Service, designated agency 

12 ethics officials, employees described in section 105(a)(2) 

13 (A) or (B), 106(a)(1) (A) or (B), or 107 (a)(1)(A) or 

14 (b)(1)(A)(i), of title 3, United States Code, candidates for 

15 the office of President or Vice President and officers and

16 employees in (and nominees to) offices or positions within 

17 the executive branch which require confirmation by the 

18 Senate shall be transmitted to the Director of the Office 

19 of Government Ethics. The Director shall forward a copy 

20 of the report of each nominee to the congressional com21 mittee considering the nomination. 

22 ‘‘(d) Reports required to be filed under this title by 

23 the Director of the Office of Government Ethics shall be 

24 filed in the Office of Government Ethics and, immediately 
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1 after being filed, shall be made available to the public in 

2 accordance with this title. 

3 ‘‘(e) Each individual identified in section 201(c) who 

4 is a candidate for nomination or election to the Office of 

5 President or Vice President shall file the reports required 

6 by this title with the Federal Election Commission. 

7 ‘‘(f) Reports required of members of the uniformed 

8 services shall be filed with the Secretary concerned. 

9 ‘‘(g) The Office of Government Ethics shall develop 

10 and make available forms for reporting the information 

11 required by this title. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 204. FAILURE TO FILE OR FILING FALSE REPORTS. 

13 ‘‘(a) The Attorney General may bring a civil action 

14 in any appropriate United States district court against 

15 any individual who knowingly and willfully falsifies or who 

16 knowingly and willfully fails to file or report any informa17 tion that such individual is required to report pursuant 

18 to section 202. The court in which such action is brought 

19 may assess against such individual a civil penalty in any 

20 amount, not to exceed $10,000. 

21 ‘‘(b) The head of each agency, each Secretary con22 cerned, or the Director of the Office of Government Eth23 ics, as the case may be, shall refer to the Attorney General 

24 the name of any individual which such official has reason25 able cause to believe has willfully failed to file a report 
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1 or has willfully falsified or willfully failed to file informa2 tion required to be reported. 

3 ‘‘(c) The President, the Vice President, the Secretary 

4 concerned, or the head of each agency may take any ap5 propriate personnel or other action in accordance with ap6 plicable law or regulation against any individual failing to 

7 file a report or falsifying or failing to report information 

8 required to be reported. 

9 ‘‘(d)(1) Any individual who files a report required to 

10 be filed under this title more than 30 days after the later 

11 of—

12 ‘‘(A) the date such report is required to be filed 

13 pursuant to the provisions of this title and the rules 

14 and regulations promulgated thereunder; or 

15 ‘‘(B) if a filing extension is granted to such in16 dividual under section 201(g), the last day of the fil17 ing extension period, 

18 shall, at the direction of and pursuant to regulations 

19 issued by the Office of Government Ethics, pay a filing 

20 fee of $500. All such fees shall be deposited in the mis21 cellaneous receipts of the Treasury. The authority under 

22 this paragraph to direct the payment of a filing fee may 

23 be delegated by the Office of Government Ethics to other 

24 agencies in the executive branch. 
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1 ‘‘(2) The Office of Government Ethics may waive the 

2 filing fee under this subsection for good cause shown. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 205. CUSTODY OF AND PUBLIC ACCESS TO REPORTS. 

4 ‘‘(a) Each agency and the Office of Government Eth5 ics shall make available to the public, in accordance with 

6 subsection (b), each report filed under this title with such 

7 agency or Office except that this section does not require 

8 public availability of a report filed by any individual in 

9 the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence 

10 Agency, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, or 

11 the National Security Agency, or any individual engaged 

12 in intelligence activities in any agency of the United 

13 States, if the President finds or has found that, due to 

14 the nature of the office or position occupied by such indi15 vidual, public disclosure of such report would, by revealing 

16 the identity of the individual or other sensitive informa17 tion, compromise the national interest of the United 

18 States; and such individuals may be authorized, notwith19 standing section 204(a), to file such additional reports as 

20 are necessary to protect their identity from public disclo21 sure if the President first finds or has found that such 

22 filing is necessary in the national interest. 

23 ‘‘(b)(1) Except as provided in the second sentence of 

24 this subsection, each agency and the Office of Government 

25 Ethics shall, within 30 days after any report is received 
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1 under this title by such agency or Office, as the case may 

2 be, permit inspection of such report by or furnish a copy 

3 of such report to any person requesting such inspection 

4 or copy. With respect to any report required to be filed 

5 by May 15 of any year, such report shall be made available 

6 for public inspection within 30 calendar days after May 

7 15 of such year or within 30 days of the date of filing 

8 of such a report for which an extension is granted pursu9 ant to section 201(g). The agency or the Office of Govern10 ment Ethics may require a reasonable fee to be paid in 

11 any amount which is found necessary to recover the cost 

12 of reproduction or mailing of such report excluding any 

13 salary of any employee involved in such reproduction or 

14 mailing. A copy of such report may be furnished without

15 charge or at a reduced charge if it is determined that waiv16 er or reduction of the fee is in the public interest. 

17 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a report may 

18 not be made available under this section to any person 

19 nor may any copy thereof be provided under this section 

20 to any person except upon a written application by such 

21 person stating—

22 ‘‘(A) that person’s name, occupation, and ad23 dress; 
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1 ‘‘(B) the name and address of any other person 

2 or organization on whose behalf the inspection or 

3 copy is requested; and 

4 ‘‘(C) that such person is aware of the prohibi5 tions on the obtaining or use of the report. 

6 Any such application shall be made available to the public 

7 throughout the period during which the report is made 

8 available to the public. 

9 ‘‘(c)(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to obtain 

10 or use a report—

11 ‘‘(A) for any unlawful purpose; 

12 ‘‘(B) for any commercial purpose, other than by 

13 news and communications media for dissemination 

14 to the general public; 

15 ‘‘(C) for determining or establishing the credit 

16 rating of any individual; or

17 ‘‘(D) for use, directly or indirectly, in the solici18 tation of money for any political, charitable, or other 

19 purpose. 

20 ‘‘(2) The Attorney General may bring a civil action 

21 against any person who obtains or uses a report for any 

22 purpose prohibited in paragraph (1) of this subsection. 

23 The court in which such action is brought may assess 

24 against such person a penalty in any amount not to exceed 
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1 $10,000. Such remedy shall be in addition to any other 

2 remedy available under statutory or common law. 

3 ‘‘(d) Any report filed with or transmitted to an agen4 cy or the Office of Government Ethics pursuant to this 

5 title shall be retained by such agency or Office, as the case 

6 may be. Such report shall be made available to the public 

7 for a period of 6 years after receipt of the report. After 

8 such 6-year period the report shall be destroyed unless 

9 needed in an ongoing investigation, except that in the case 

10 of an individual who filed the report pursuant to section 

11 201(b) and was not subsequently confirmed by the Senate, 

12 or who filed the report pursuant to section 201(c) and was 

13 not subsequently elected, such reports shall be destroyed 

14 1 year after the individual either is no longer under con15 sideration by the Senate or is no longer a candidate for 

16 nomination or election to the Office of President or Vice 

17 President unless needed in an ongoing investigation. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 206. REVIEW OF REPORTS. 

19 ‘‘(a) Each designated agency ethics official or Sec20 retary concerned shall make provisions to ensure that each 

21 report filed with him under this title is reviewed within 

22 60 days after the date of such filing, except that the Direc23 tor of the Office of Government Ethics shall review only 

24 those reports required to be transmitted to him under this 

25 title within 60 days after the date of transmittal. 
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1 ‘‘(b)(1) If after reviewing any report under subsection 

2 (a), the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, the 

3 Secretary concerned, or the designated agency ethics offi4 cial, as the case may be, is of the opinion that on the basis 

5 of information contained in such report the individual sub6 mitting such report is in compliance with applicable laws 

7 and regulations, he shall state such opinion on the report, 

8 and shall sign such report. 

9 ‘‘(2) If the Director of the Office of Government Eth10 ics, the Secretary concerned, or the designated agency eth11 ics official after reviewing any report under subsection 

12 (a)—

13 ‘‘(A) believes additional information is required 

14 to be submitted to complete the form or to perform 

15 a conflict of interest analysis, he shall notify the in16 dividual submitting such report what additional in17 formation is required and the time by which it must 

18 be submitted, or 

19 ‘‘(B) is of the opinion, on the basis of informa20 tion submitted, that the individual is not in compli21 ance with applicable laws and regulations, he shall 

22 notify the individual, afford a reasonable opportunity 

23 for a written or oral response, and after consider24 ation of such response, reach an opinion as to 

25 whether or not, on the basis of information sub-
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1 mitted, the individual is in compliance with such 

2 laws and regulations. 

3 ‘‘(3) If the Director of the Office of Government Eth4 ics, the Secretary concerned, or the designated agency eth5 ics official reaches an opinion under paragraph (2)(B) 

6 that an individual is not in compliance with applicable 

7 laws and regulations, the official shall notify the individual 

8 of that opinion and, after an opportunity for personal con9 sultation (if practicable), determine and notify the indi10 vidual of which steps, if any, would in the opinion of such 

11 official be appropriate for assuring compliance with such 

12 laws and regulations and the date by which such steps 

13 should be taken. Such steps may include, as appropriate—

14 ‘‘(A) divestiture, 

15 ‘‘(B) restitution, 

16 ‘‘(C) the establishment of a blind trust, 

17 ‘‘(D) request for an exemption under section 

18 208(b) of title 18, United States Code, or 

19 ‘‘(E) voluntary request for transfer, reassign20 ment, limitation of duties, or resignation. 

21 The use of any such steps shall be in accordance with such 

22 rules or regulations as the Office of Government Ethics 

23 may prescribe. 

24 ‘‘(4) If steps for assuring compliance with applicable 

25 laws and regulations are not taken by the date set under 
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1 paragraph (3) by an individual in a position in the execu2 tive branch (other than in the Foreign Service or the uni3 formed services), appointment to which requires the advice 

4 and consent of the Senate, the matter shall be referred 

5 to the President for appropriate action. 

6 ‘‘(5) If steps for assuring compliance with applicable 

7 laws and regulations are not taken by the date set under 

8 paragraph (3) by a member of the Foreign Service or the 

9 uniformed services, the Secretary concerned shall take ap10 propriate action. 

11 ‘‘(6) If steps for assuring compliance with applicable 

12 laws and regulations are not taken by the date set under 

13 paragraph (3) by any other officer or employee, the matter 

14 shall be referred to the head of the appropriate agency 

15 for appropriate action; except that in the case of the Post16 master General or Deputy Postmaster General, the Direc17 tor of the Office of Government Ethics shall recommend

18 to the Governors of the Board of Governors of the United 

19 States Postal Service the action to be taken. 

20 ‘‘(7) The Office of Government Ethics may render 

21 advisory opinions interpreting this title. Notwithstanding 

22 any other provision of law, the individual to whom a public 

23 advisory opinion is rendered in accordance with this para24 graph, and any other individual covered by this title who 

25 is involved in a fact situation which is indistinguishable 
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1 in all material aspects, and who acts in good faith in ac2 cordance with the provisions and findings of such advisory 

3 opinion shall not, as a result of such act, be subject to 

4 any penalty or sanction provided by this title. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 207. CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS AND OTHER ADDI6 TIONAL REQUIREMENTS. 

7 ‘‘(a)(1) The Office of Government Ethics may require 

8 officers and employees of the executive branch (including 

9 special Government employees as defined in section 202 

10 of title 18, United States Code) to file confidential finan11 cial disclosure reports, in such form as it may prescribe. 

12 The information required to be reported under this sub13 section by the officers and employees of any department 

14 or agency shall be set forth in rules or regulations pre15 scribed by the Office of Government Ethics, and may be 

16 less extensive than otherwise required by this title, or more 

17 extensive when determined by the Office of Government

18 Ethics to be necessary and appropriate in light of sections 

19 202 through 209 of title 18, United States Code, regula20 tions promulgated thereunder, or the authorized activities 

21 of such officers or employees. Any individual required to 

22 file a report pursuant to section 201 shall not be required 

23 to file a confidential report pursuant to this subsection, 

24 except with respect to information which is more extensive 

25 than information otherwise required by this title. Sub-
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1 sections (a), (b), and (d) of section 205 shall not apply 

2 with respect to any such report. 

3 ‘‘(2) Any information required to be provided by an 

4 individual under this subsection shall be confidential and 

5 shall not be disclosed to the public. 

6 ‘‘(3) Nothing in this subsection exempts any indi7 vidual otherwise covered by the requirement to file a public 

8 financial disclosure report under this title from such re9 quirement. 

10 ‘‘(b) The provisions of this title requiring the report11 ing of information shall supersede any general require12 ment under any other provision of law or regulation with 

13 respect to the reporting of information required for pur14 poses of preventing conflicts of interest or apparent con15 flicts of interest. Such provisions of this title shall not su16 persede the requirements of section 7342 of title 5, United 

17 States Code. 

18 ‘‘(c) Nothing in this Act requiring reporting of infor19 mation shall be deemed to authorize the receipt of income, 

20 gifts, or reimbursements; the holding of assets, liabilities, 

21 or positions; or the participation in transactions that are 

22 prohibited by law, Executive order, rule, or regulation. 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 208. AUTHORITY OF COMPTROLLER GENERAL. 

2 ‘‘The Comptroller General shall have access to finan3 cial disclosure reports filed under this title for the pur4 poses of carrying out his statutory responsibilities. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 209. DEFINITIONS. 

6 ‘‘For the purposes of this title, the term—

7 ‘‘(1) ‘dependent child’ means, when used with 

8 respect to any reporting individual, any individual 

9 who is a son, daughter, stepson, or stepdaughter and 

10 who—

11 ‘‘(A) is unmarried and under age 21 and 

12 is living in the household of such reporting indi13 vidual; or 

14 ‘‘(B) is a dependent of such reporting indi15 vidual within the meaning of section 152 of the 

16 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 

17 152); 

18 ‘‘(2) ‘designated agency ethics official’ means 

19 an officer or employee who is designated to admin20 ister the provisions of this title within an agency; 

21 ‘‘(3) ‘executive branch’ includes each Executive 

22 agency (as defined in section 105 of title 5, United 

23 States Code), other than the General Accounting Of24 fice, and any other entity or administrative unit in 

25 the executive branch; 
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1 ‘‘(4) ‘gift’ means a payment, advance, forbear2 ance, rendering, or deposit of money, or any thing 

3 of value, unless consideration of equal or greater 

4 value is received by the donor, but does not in5 clude—

6 ‘‘(A) bequest and other forms of inherit7 ance; 

8 ‘‘(B) suitable mementos of a function hon9 oring the reporting individual; 

10 ‘‘(C) food, lodging, transportation, and en11 tertainment provided by a foreign government 

12 within a foreign country or by the United 

13 States Government, the District of Columbia, or 

14 a State or local government or political subdivi15 sion thereof; 

16 ‘‘(D) food and beverages which are not 

17 consumed in connection with a gift of overnight 

18 lodging;

19 ‘‘(E) communications to the offices of a re20 porting individual, including subscriptions to 

21 newspapers and periodicals; or 

22 ‘‘(F) items that are accepted pursuant to 

23 or are required to be reported by the reporting 

24 individual under section 7342 of title 5, United 

25 States Code. 
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1 ‘‘(5) ‘honoraria’ means a payment of money or 

2 anything of value for an appearance, speech, or arti3 cle; 

4 ‘‘(6) ‘income’ means all income from whatever 

5 source derived, including but not limited to the fol6 lowing items: compensation for services, including 

7 fees, commissions, and similar items; gross income 

8 derived from business (and net income if the indi9 vidual elects to include it); gains derived from deal10 ings in property; interest; rents; royalties; prizes and 

11 awards; dividends; annuities; income from life insur12 ance and endowment contracts; pensions; income 

13 from discharge of indebtedness; distributive share of 

14 partnership income; and income from an interest in 

15 an estate or trust; 

16 ‘‘(7) ‘personal hospitality of any individual’ 

17 means hospitality extended for a nonbusiness pur18 pose by an individual, not a corporation or organiza19 tion, at the personal residence of that individual or 

20 his family or on property or facilities owned by that 

21 individual or his family; 

22 ‘‘(8) ‘reimbursement’ means any payment or 

23 other thing of value received by the reporting indi24 vidual, other than gifts, to cover travel-related ex-
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1 penses of such individual other than those which 

2 are—

3 ‘‘(A) provided by the United States Gov4 ernment, the District of Columbia, or a State or 

5 local government or political subdivision thereof; 

6 ‘‘(B) required to be reported by the report7 ing individual under section 7342 of title 5, 

8 United States Code; or 

9 ‘‘(C) required to be reported under section 

10 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 

11 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434); 

12 ‘‘(9) ‘relative’ means an individual who is re13 lated to the reporting individual, as father, mother, 

14 son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, great 

15 aunt, great uncle, first cousin, nephew, niece, hus16 band, wife, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, 

17 granddaughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in18 law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, 

19 stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, step20 brother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, or who 

21 is the grandfather or grandmother of the spouse of 

22 the reporting individual, and shall be deemed to in23 clude the fiance ́ or fiance ́e of the reporting indi24 vidual; 
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1 ‘‘(10) ‘Secretary concerned’ has the meaning 

2 set forth in section 101(a)(9) of title 10, United 

3 States Code, and, in addition, means—

4 ‘‘(A) the Secretary of Commerce, with re5 spect to matters concerning the National Oce6 anic and Atmospheric Administration; 

7 ‘‘(B) the Secretary of Health and Human 

8 Services, with respect to matters concerning the 

9 Public Health Service; and 

10 ‘‘(C) the Secretary of State, with respect 

11 to matters concerning the Foreign Service; and 

12 ‘‘(11) ‘value’ means a good faith estimate of the 

13 dollar value if the exact value is neither known nor 

14 easily obtainable by the reporting individual. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 210. NOTICE OF ACTIONS TAKEN TO COMPLY WITH 

16 ETHICS AGREEMENTS. 

17 ‘‘(a) In any case in which an individual agrees with 

18 that individual’s designated agency ethics official, the Of19 fice of Government Ethics, or a Senate confirmation com20 mittee, to take any action to comply with this Act or any 

21 other law or regulation governing conflicts of interest of, 

22 or establishing standards of conduct applicable with re23 spect to, officers or employees of the Government, that 

24 individual shall notify in writing the designated agency 

25 ethics official, the Office of Government Ethics, or the ap-
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1 propriate committee of the Senate, as the case may be, 

2 of any action taken by the individual pursuant to that 

3 agreement. Such notification shall be made not later than 

4 the date specified in the agreement by which action by 

5 the individual must be taken, or not later than 3 months 

6 after the date of the agreement, if no date for action is 

7 so specified. If all actions agreed to have not been com8 pleted by the date of this notification, such notification 

9 shall continue on a monthly basis thereafter until the indi10 vidual has met the terms of the agreement. 

11 ‘‘(b) If an agreement described in subsection (a) re12 quires that the individual recuse himself or herself from 

13 particular categories of agency or other official action, the 

14 individual shall reduce to writing those subjects regarding 

15 which the recusal agreement will apply and the process 

16 by which it will be determined whether the individual must 

17 recuse himself or herself in a specific instance. An indi18 vidual shall be considered to have complied with the re19 quirements of subsection (a) with respect to such recusal 

20 agreement if such individual files a copy of the document 

21 setting forth the information described in the preceding 

22 sentence with such individual’s designated agency ethics 

23 official or the Office of Government Ethics within the time 

24 prescribed in the penultimate sentence of subsection (a). 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 211. ADMINISTRATION OF PROVISIONS. 

2 ‘‘The Office of Government Ethics shall issue regula3 tions, develop forms, and provide such guidance as is nec4 essary to implement and interpret this title.’’. 

5 SEC. 5. TRANSMITTAL OF RECORD RELATING TO PRESI6 DENTIALLY APPOINTED POSITIONS TO PRES7 IDENTIAL CANDIDATES. 

8 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘major 

9 party’’ has the meaning given that term under section 

10 9002(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

11 (b) TRANSMITTAL.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 days after 

13 the date on which a major party nominates a can14 didate for President, the Executive Clerk of the 

15 White House shall transmit an electronic record to 

16 that candidate on Presidentially appointed positions. 

17 (2) OTHER CANDIDATES.—After making trans18 mittals under paragraph (1), the Executive Clerk of 

19 the White House may transmit an electronic record 

20 on Presidentially appointed positions to any other 

21 candidate for President.

22 (c) CONTENT.—The record transmitted under this 

23 section shall provide—

24 (1) all positions which are appointed by the 

25 President, including the title and description of the 

26 duties of each position; 
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1 (2) the name of each person holding a position 

2 described under paragraph (1); 

3 (3) any vacancy in the positions described 

4 under paragraph (1), and the period of time any 

5 such position has been vacant; 

6 (4) the date on which an appointment made 

7 after the applicable Presidential election for any po8 sition described under paragraph (1) is necessary to 

9 ensure effective operation of the Government; and 

10 (5) any other information that the Executive 

11 Clerk determines is useful in making appointments. 

12 SEC. 6. REDUCTION OF POSITIONS REQUIRING APPOINT13 MENT WITH SENATE CONFIRMATION. 

14 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘agency’’ 

15 means an Executive agency as defined under section 105 

16 of title 5, United States Code. 

17 (b) REDUCTION PLAN.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

19 after the date of enactment of this Act, the head of 

20 each agency shall submit a Presidential appointment 

21 reduction plan to—

22 (A) the President; 

23 (B) the Committee on Governmental Af24 fairs of the Senate; and 
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1 (C) the Committee on Government Reform 

2 of the House of Representatives. 

3 (2) CONTENT.—The plan under this subsection 

4 shall provide for the reduction of—

5 (A) the number of positions within that 

6 agency that require an appointment by the 

7 President, by and with the advice and consent 

8 of the Senate; and 

9 (B) the number of levels of such positions 

10 within that agency. 

11 SEC. 7. ATTORNEY GENERAL REVIEW OF CONFLICT OF IN12 TEREST LAW. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

14 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office 

15 of Government Ethics, in consultation with the Attorney 

16 General of the United States, shall conduct a comprehen17 sive review of conflict of interest laws relating to Federal 

18 employment and submit a report to—

19 (1) the President; 

20 (2) the Committee on Governmental Affairs of 

21 the Senate; 

22 (3) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen23 ate; 

24 (4) the Committee on Government Reform of 

25 the House of Representatives; and 
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1 (5) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

2 House of Representatives. 

3 (b) CONTENT.—The report under this section shall—

4 (1) examine all—

5 (A) Federal criminal conflict of interest 

6 laws relating to Federal employment, including 

7 the relevant provisions of chapter 11 of title 18, 

8 United States Code; and 

9 (B) related civil conflict of interest laws, 

10 including regulations promulgated under section 

11 402 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 

12 (5 U.S.C. App.); and 

13 (2) make recommendations on legislation to 

14 provide for—

15 (A) better coordination of such laws; and 

16 (B) more uniformity, efficiency, and clarity 

17 in the application and administration of such 

18 laws. 

19 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

20 (a) AMENDMENTS TO ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT ACT

21 OF 1978.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), 

23 the amendments made by sections 3 and 4 shall take 

24 effect on January 1 of the year following the date 

25 of enactment of this Act. 
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1 (2) LATER DATE.—If the date of enactment of 

2 this Act is on or after July 1 of any calendar year, 

3 the amendments made by sections 3 and 4 shall take 

4 effect on July 1 in the year following the date of en5 actment of this Act. 

6 (b) OTHER PROVISIONS.—Sections 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 

7 shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.

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