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Congressional ______
*Research Service
Executive Branch Ethics and Financial
Conflicts of Interest: Disclosure
January 2, 2019
Recent media reports indicate that the 116th Congress may address government ethics reform, including
conflicts of interest among executive branch officials. Federal officials have a basic duty not to allow
private gain to influence their government service, which includes not hold[ing] financial interests that
conflict with the conscientious performance of duty. Federal statutes, as well as a code of conduct for
executive branch employees, make this principle part of a federal regulatory scheme intended to prevent
officials from benefitting personally from their offices. The current federal statutory scheme regulating
conflicts between an official's personal financial interests and his or her official duties has three prongs:
disclosure, disqualification, and divestiture (i.e., a 3-D system). This sidebar is the first in a three-part
series examining conflicts of interest in the executive branch.
Current Scope of Disclosure Requirements
To make conflicts of interest between officials' public duties and private financial interests transparent,
Congress enacted mandatory disclosure requirements to promote the integrity of public officials and
institutions. The Ethics in Government Act requires high-level elected and appointed officials to disclose
a range of personal interests at various times, including upon entering public service, annually during
such service, and upon departing their position. In 2012, Congress enacted the STOCK Act, which
amended the Ethics in Government Act to increase transparency, in part, through more frequent reporting
requirements and broader availability of disclosure reports.
Under these statutes, financial disclosure reports must be filed at various stages of a covered official's
government service. An initial report, which must be filed upon entering government service, discloses
information about that individual's (1) income; (2) financial assets, (3) liabilities; (4) outside positions;
and (5) agreements and continuing relationships with other employers. Following an individual's
appointment or election, he must file an annual report that includes three additional categories of
information: gifts, financial transactions, and the cash value of any interest in a blind trust. In addition to
annual reports, covered officials must file periodic transaction reports when they engage in certain
financial transactions. Finally, officials must provide final reports covering all eight information
categories when they leave a covered position.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
LSB10238
CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and
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