Disclosure info from White House officials available online

People can now request and receive online the financial disclosure reports that senior White House officials are required to file.

The Obama administration announced April 3 a new online process through which people can access White House officials’ Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Reports, or Standard Form 278 documents. For the first time, people can use an electronic form to request copies of the documents, and copies can be sent as a PDF, White House officials said.

Some senior officials, including nominees who require Senate approval and employees whose pay is greater than the GS-15 level, are required to submit the form.

John Wonderlich, policy director at the Sunlight Foundation, which urged the administration to make the financial documents more accessible, applauded the move.

Wonderlich wrote today on Sunlight’s blog that the change was “a significant improvement, and lowers the barrier to effective disclosure of essential financial information.” However, he added that the White House should eventually “move beyond a request-based system, and affirmatively post the financial disclosure forms, with any necessary redactions.”