The GARD Act (Gift Accountability, Reporting, and Disclosures Act) tightens rules around how federal employees report gifts they receive from foreign sources. Right now, federal workers have to disclose foreign gifts, but this law makes the process more transparent and adds new accountability measures.

Here's what changes: First, the reporting deadline moves from January 31st to May 15th each year, and agencies now have 30 days after that to submit compiled reports to both the Office of Government Ethics and the State Department. The law also expands who has to report gifts—now including political candidates running for President, Vice President, or Congress. When reporting gifts, employees must provide much more detailed information, including the gift's fair market value, tracking numbers if the gift was transferred to government storage, and exactly what happened to it (whether it was kept, sold, donated to the National Archives, etc.). The law also prohibits federal employees from accepting gifts from countries that the Secretary of State designates as "countries of concern."

To enforce compliance, the law adds a $200 late fee for employees who file their reports more than 30 days late, though agencies can waive this fee if there's a good reason for the delay. Finally, within 120 days of the law taking effect, federal agencies must set up systems to make these gift reports publicly available online, similar to how financial disclosure forms are currently accessible to the public. This means citizens will be able to see what gifts federal officials received and what happened to them.