Transparency: Obama Admin Rolls Back Conflict of Interest Disclosure for Unions

Though the Obama administration labor department had already stopped enforcing the requirement that union bosses fill out LM-30 forms listing potential conflict of interests, now we get word that the Obama administration is rolling back the relevant regulations altogether. However, the announcement of this rule change is baffling:

The new rule promotes transparency by requiring union officials to disclose payments and interests that involve actual or likely conflicts between the official’s personal financial interests and his or her duties to the union. The department intends to engage in compliance assistance and enforcement efforts to ensure proper reporting by union officials.

The new rule avoids unnecessary intrusions into labor-management relations by removing requirements to report transactions that create no actual or likely conflicts of interest. The rule announced today reverses one published in 2007 that expanded the length and complexity of the LM-30, but did not lead to additional useful information being reported by union officials.