September 22, 2012
On September 22, 2012, the Senate passed S. 3625, which extends the date by which certain Executive Branch public financial disclosure forms must be made available on the internet to December 8, 2012. The bill goes to the House next for consideration.
Subsection 11(a)(1) of the STOCK Act (Public Law 112-105), originally required that by August 31, 2012, public financial disclosure forms filed pursuant to title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (EIGA) in calendar year 2012, and in subsequent years, be made available to the public on the official websites of the respective Executive Branch agencies not later than 30 days after such forms were filed. The STOCK Act was amended by S. 3510 (Public Law 112-173) to move this deadline to September 30, 2012, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland Southern Division subsequently enjoined posting under the STOCK Act until October 31, 2012. Section 1 of S. 3625 extends the effective date of subsection 11(a)(1) of the STOCK Act to December 8, 2012, except for certain high-level filers occupying positions listed at Level I and II of the Executive Schedule.
S. 3625 also directs a study by the National Academy of Public Administration of issues raised by website publication of financial disclosure forms and to issue a report with findings and recommendations. In addition, section 3 of S. 3625 clarifies that an employee subject to the periodic transaction reporting requirement under subsection 103(l) of EIGA must also report any purchase, sale, or exchange of securities by the employee’s spouse or dependent children. The periodic transaction reporting requirements for an employee’s spouse and dependent children covers transactions occurring on or after January 1, 2013.
S.3625 (PDF ) (HTML )