Sponsors (5)
The bill strengthens transparency and closes ethics gaps for longer‑serving SGEs—improving public oversight and reducing conflicts of interest—while imposing new disclosure, compliance, and IT costs and creating privacy and recruitment tradeoffs that may shrink agencies' access to outside expertise.
Taxpayers, watchdogs, and federal employees: the bill creates public, searchable disclosures (including a database and timely posting of waivers) that make SGE service, waivers, and potential conflicts easier to find and scrutinize.
Federal employees, agencies, and the public: SGEs who serve long enough (60/130 days) become subject to full Federal ethics rules and 18 U.S.C. § 209, reducing opportunities for conflicts of interest and strengthening enforcement.
Taxpayers and competing companies: senior executives or owners of large companies are barred from contacting agencies that contract with or regulate their firms, lowering the risk of biased procurement/enforcement and protecting fair competition.
Outside experts and senior industry officials: stricter disclosure rules, new limits, and public posting may deter qualified private‑sector experts from serving as SGEs, shrinking the pool of available expertise for agencies.
Agencies, OMB, OGE, and taxpayers: building and maintaining the searchable public database and meeting 14‑day posting requirements will create ongoing administrative and IT costs and staffing burdens.
Agencies and taxpayers: broad ownership/size definitions that disqualify senior executives or large-company owners may force agencies to spend more to find qualified advisors and could raise contracting and advisory costs.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Tightens ethics and disclosure rules for special Government employees: public waiver postings, a searchable SGE database, limits on contacts with large companies, and broader application of ethics rules after service thresholds.
Introduced April 10, 2025 by Melanie Ann Stansbury · Last progress April 10, 2025
Strengthens ethics, disclosure, and transparency rules for special Government employees (SGEs). It requires public posting of certain waivers, creates a searchable online database of many SGEs and their days served, tightens financial disclosure rules and online availability for some SGE reports, prohibits certain SGEs who own or run "large companies" from communicating in their official capacity with agencies that contract with or regulate those companies, and applies full federal ethics rules to SGEs after service thresholds are reached.