H.R. 2894 — SEER Act of 2025

This section states congressional findings on conflicts of interest for special government employees (SGEs), including that (1) some SGEs have substantial financial conflicts from other business activities; (2) SGEs are subject to 18 U.S.C. §208 but exempt if their work does not involve a particular matter; (3) unlike senior executive branch employees, most SGEs are not required to publicly disclose finances; (4) most SGEs serve on advisory committees with limited roles, though some assume high-level authority equivalent to senior full-time employees; (5) the executive branch has not notified the public or Congress of using SGEs for high-level responsibilities; and (6) the executive branch has allowed SGEs to exceed the 130-day statutory limit in any 365-day period.

This section revises federal conflict-of-interest restrictions applicable to special government employees (SGEs)—who serve the federal government intermittently for fewer than 130 days in any 365-day period—under 18 U.S.C. §§ 202 and 208 as follows: (1) requires explicit SGE designation on a Notification of Personnel Action (Standard Form 50 or equivalent); (2) limits the prohibition on participation, for SGEs who are not on an advisory committee (under the Federal Advisory Committee Act) or who serve as chair or vice chair of one, to discrete and identifiable components of matters involving their organization's financial interest; (3) requires waivers under subsection (b)(1) for SGEs to have concurrence from a designated Office of Government Ethics official; (4) excludes advisory committee chairs and vice chairs from exemptions under subsection (b)(3); and (5) mandates public posting of certain SGE waivers in a searchable online database within 14 days of issuance.

This section prohibits a special Government employee—as defined in 18 U.S.C. §202—who is not serving on an advisory committee (or as chair or vice chair thereof) from engaging in direct or indirect communications in an official capacity with an agency or office that contracts with, regulates, or has a pending enforcement action against a "large company" that the special Government employee owns or for which the special Government employee serves as a senior executive or director. It defines a "large company" as (1) a for-profit company with greater than an average of $1 billion in market capitalization or revenue over the previous three-year period; (2) a federal contractor that received greater than $100 million in annual revenue from the federal government during the previous three-year period; or (3) a for-profit company that exerts monopolistic or monopsonistic control over a significant share of the market in its industry, as defined by regulation. The section directs the Office of Government Ethics to promulgate regulations implementing these requirements, including to define ownership of a large company.

This section requires the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, in coordination with the Office of Government Ethics, to maintain and make publicly available over the internet—without fee, in a searchable, sortable, and downloadable manner, to the extent technically practicable and kept current—a database of covered individuals (i.e., special government employees not serving on advisory committees, excluding those described in 5 U.S.C. §13107(a)(1) or (2)). The database must include each covered individual's name, a rolling tally of days served as a special government employee, and a description of why the individual was designated as such rather than a regular employee.

This section revises exemptions from public financial disclosure reporting requirements for special government employees (SGEs)—typically part-time or intermittent federal advisers serving no more than 130 days in any 365-day period—by (1) striking the exclusion of SGEs from an existing exemption category, (2) adding a new exemption for SGEs who are not serving on a federal advisory committee (or are serving as chair or vice chair of one) and who are not in a closely supervised general schedule GS-9 or lower position with limited responsibilities, and (3) requiring the relevant agency ethics officer to review any claimed exemption; and applies the new exemption to termination reporting requirements.

This section expands the exceptions from online posting of financial disclosure statements and related forms under the STOCK Act (as modified by P.L. 113-7) to include any special Government employee of the executive branch who—(1) is not serving on an advisory committee or is serving as a chair or vice chair on an advisory committee; or (2) is not serving in a position classified at the GS-9 level or below with limited responsibilities closely supervised by a career federal employee. (Thus, only certain low-level advisory committee members who are neither chairs nor vice chairs remain subject to online posting.)

This section applies all federal ethics rules to special Government employees (SGEs)—officers or employees retained for temporary duties of no more than 130 days in any 365-day period (18 U.S.C. § 202(a))—who serve more than 60 days in their department or agency during the preceding 365-day period, to the same extent as such rules apply to regular employees (previously, SGEs were subject to fewer ethics restrictions). For SGEs serving more than 130 days in the preceding 365-day period, it further applies 18 U.S.C. § 209 (prohibiting receipt of salary from a federal contractor) and financial disclosure requirements (5 U.S.C. ch. 131, subch. III) to the same extent as for regular employees, regardless of whether the SGE serves with or without compensation.