New D.C. ethics law causes delay in financial reporting

D.C. city officials get a five-month delay to disclose their potential conflicts of interest, meaning 2011 data won’t be available until nearly a year after the fact because of newly passed ethics legislation intended to increase accountability.

That responsibility of collecting officials’ financial disclosures — which includes outside incomes and business dealings — was officially transferred to the Board of Ethics and Accountability in January when the mayor signed into law an ethics reform bill. The Office of Campaign Finance recently issued a statement notifying officials that the May 15 filing date for the disclosures no longer applies.