The Office of Government Ethics has started testing of a new electronic system through which federal employees subject to filing financial disclosure reports will make those submissions.
The project was started by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK Act), which on its enactment two years ago “imposed the most sweeping changes to executive branch ethics laws in over 20 years,” OGE said in a recent posting.
Since the law’s enactment, OGE has changed several ethics policies affected by the law, including frequency of reporting of certain financial transactions, policies affecting employees who are in negotiations for post-government employment, restrictions on buying stocks through initial public offerings for high-level officials, and other issues.
The new electronic filing system, which will include an “interactive wizard,” is designed to improve accuracy and timeliness of financial reporting. “We have already begun our extensive testing of this system and look forward to introducing it later this year,” OGE said.
