The Office of Government Ethics has issued a reminder that effective with this calendar year, federal employees who are required to file public financial disclosure reports generally must disclose within a month certain financial transactions made by their spouses and dependent children.
That requirement was included in a law passed last September that amended the Stock Act, which originally imposed that faster reporting requirement on the filers themselves, but not for transactions by covered family members. Prior to enactment of the Stock Act last April, disclosures of those transactions only had to be made with the annual filing of the Form 278.
The requirements for more prompt reporting of transactions were not affected by a series of separate laws that delayed until April another provision of the Stock Act, that those disclosure forms be posted on agency web sites. An outside study of the potential effects of that requirement is under way, and Congress is expected to deal with that issue after receiving that report, which is due in late March.
The notice, including links to other guidance spelling out which transactions are affected, is here: http://www.oge.gov/OGE-Advisories/Legal-Advisories/LA-13-01–Periodic-Reporting-of-Spouse-and-Dependent-Children-Transactions/
