Federal Manager's Daily Report

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The Office of Government Ethics has announced initiatives aimed at “ensuring that the executive branch ethics community is ready and able to handle the many challenges that come with a presidential election year.”

They include:

* Hosting a National Government Ethics Summit in Bethesda, Md., March 10-12 to “help ethics officials prepare to review the increased volume of financial disclosure reports that follow any election, by making certain that their ethics teams are well trained, their agency ethics policies are up-to-date, and their programs are resourced to manage the increased workload.”

* Reworking its website to provide easier access to the ethics records of senior officials and oversight records of agencies.

* Bringing up to date the basic set of ethics rules, the Standards of Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, and issuing a regulation “to help federal employees and donors navigate the creation and operation of legal expense funds.”

See also, Recent Hatch Cases a Warning on Prohibited Political Activity

* Continuing to emphasize the importance of leadership support for ethics programs through meetings with senior agency officials, including those of agencies involved with elections.

More on Federal Government Ethics Policies at ask.FEDweek.com