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Office of Government Ethics Reauthorization Act of 1988

Public Law 100-598 · S. 2344 · 100th Congress · began in the Senate

Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Nov 3, 1988 · Government Operations and Politics

Sponsor: Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Cosponsors (2): Sen. William Cohen,

Passage votes

  • HouseVoice vote
  • SenateVoice vote
Data notes

The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

(Senate agreed to House amendments with an amendment)

Amends the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to authorize appropriations for the Office of Government Ethics for FY 1989 and the five fiscal years thereafter.

Establishes the Office of Government Ethics as an independent agency within the executive branch. (The Office is currently under the jurisdiction of the Office of Personnel Management.)

Requires the Director of the Office to report to the Congress on its activities no later than March 31 of each year in which the second session of a Congress begins.

Requires the Director to ensure that each executive agency has established procedures on how the agency is to collect, review, evaluate, and make public financial disclosure statements filed by its officers or employees.

Requires the Director to prescribe regulations under which each executive agency shall be required to report to the Office on a description and evaluation of the agency's ethics program. Requires each agency to notify the Director regarding ethics matters that refer to officials outside the agency.

Authorizes the Director to order specific corrective action for agencies based on failure to establish an ethics program or to modify such program. Authorizes the Director to recommend corrective action for any officer or employee found to have violated any law, rule, regulation, or Executive Order relating to conflicts of interest, standards of conduct, or financial disclosure.

Increases the pay of the Director.

Committees

The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.

Data notes

A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 18 actions.

  1. Nov 3, 1988Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 100-598.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. Oct 27, 1988PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
  4. Oct 20, 1988Resolving differencesResolving differences · House Agreed to Senate Amendments to House Amendments by Voice Vote.
  5. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate concurred in the House amendment with an amendment and agreed to the title amendment by Voice Vote.
  6. FloorFloor · Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent.
  7. Oct 4, 1988FloorFloor · Passed House (Amended) by Voice Vote.
  8. FloorFloor · Called up by House by Unanimous Consent.
  9. Jul 15, 1988CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Administrative Law and Governmental Relations Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee
  10. CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Human Resources Subcommittee of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee
  11. Jul 13, 1988CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Judiciary Committee
  12. CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Post Office and Civil Service Committee
  13. Jun 28, 1988FloorFloor · Passed Senate with amendments by Voice Vote.
  14. FloorFloor · Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent.
  15. Jun 21, 1988CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
  16. May 19, 1988CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
  17. Apr 28, 1988CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
  18. IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes

Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.

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Official record

The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.