The House Government Reform Committee has approved ethics
reform legislation for a broad class of executive branch
employees designed to provide more transparency of executive
branch operations.
Introduced by committee chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., and
ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., HR-5112, “The Executive
Branch Reform Act of 2006,” would extend to two years the
current one-year restriction against former procurement
officials accepting compensation from federal contractors
with whom they worked as a federal employee, according to
a committee statement.
The bill would require increased disclosure by executive
officials of contacts with private parties relating to official
government action, and require the Office of Government Ethics
to maintain a public dossier on it.
It would also require high-ranking executive officials to get
a waiver prior to interacting with prospective employers, and
bar the use of federal funds for propaganda within the United
States when not authorized by law, and require the full
disclosure of government sponsorship of communications, such
as “pre-packaged news releases” like those distributed to TV
news stations intended to engender public support of the Medicare
prescription drug benefit when it was proposed.
