Browse regulations

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) regulations covering Area Risk Protection Insurance (ARPI) that provides revenue or yield protection against widespread losses in counties, with premiums set by FCIC and coverage based on county-level performance rather than individual farm yields.

Americans would be worse off without crop insurance protection against widespread agricultural losses that can devastate entire communities. This federal program provides essential risk management for food security and rural economic stability that would be difficult to replicate through private markets alone, especially for small and mid-sized farms.

Regulation implements the Lacey Act by defining terms (common cultivar, common food crop, tree, taken, etc.) and requiring importers to file declarations with scientific name, value, quantity, and country of origin for plants and plant products, with limited exceptions for packaging and low-percentage content.

Imposes burdensome paperwork and due diligence costs on legitimate importers, especially small businesses, while vague definitions invite regulatory capture and arbitrary enforcement. The extraterritorial application to foreign laws creates impossible verification burdens, distorts trade, and protects incumbent producers. These unseen economic harms outweigh the modest conservation benefits, which could be addressed via less restrictive means like targeted inspections or private certification.

Implements the Government in the Sunshine Act for the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, mandating open meetings with public notice, specified exemptions for closed sessions, and record-keeping/disclosure requirements.

Deletion would allow an oversight board that advises on privacy and civil liberties to operate in secrecy, eliminating public accountability. The modest administrative costs are outweighed by the essential transparency needed to prevent government overreach. The exemptions already protect national security and privacy without undermining the rule of law's knowability principle.

Privacy Act regulations implementing procedures for individuals to access, amend, and obtain accounting of disclosures for personal records held by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, including verification requirements and appeal processes.

These regulations create bureaucratic overhead and compliance costs without addressing fundamental privacy concerns. The extensive verification procedures and appeal processes add administrative burden while the underlying Privacy Act already provides statutory protections. Federal agencies should focus on securing data rather than creating complex administrative procedures that increase government size and cost.

FOIA regulations implementing Freedom of Information Act requirements for the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, including definitions, exemptions, request procedures, appeal rights, processing timelines, fee structures, and commercial confidentiality protections.

Americans would be worse off without FOIA access to government records. This regulation enables public oversight of federal agencies, prevents corruption, and ensures transparency in government operations that citizens cannot otherwise monitor.

This regulation outlines the organizational structure of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), including its composition (four part‑time members and a full‑time Chairman), staff categories (mission, administrative, legal), and the delegation of authority to the Chairman, Executive Director, General Counsel, and individual members. It also defines the Board's core functions: advising the President and executive agencies on privacy and civil liberties in counter‑terrorism, overseeing related executive actions, and reviewing reports from privacy officers.

Deleting this regulation would undermine the PCLOB's operational clarity and independence, weakening a critical check on executive overreach in surveillance and counter‑terrorism. The defined delegations ensure accountability and effective oversight—protecting liberty without imposing significant costs on the public. Without this structure, the Board's ability to safeguard privacy and civil liberties would be compromised, leaving Americans worse off.

NCUA employees are prohibited from outside employment with credit unions or related entities and must obtain supervisor and ethics official approval for other outside work to prevent conflicts of interest.

Deletion would allow NCUA regulators to hold financial stakes in the industry they oversee, creating incentives for lax enforcement and regulatory capture that could lead to credit union failures harming millions of members. The prior-approval system prevents this systematically, more effectively than relying solely on post-hoc anti-corruption enforcement.

This regulation governs the application process for land-use-exemption permits allowing solid waste rail transfer facilities to bypass state and local land-use requirements. It establishes detailed procedures for petitions, applications, notice, environmental review, and public comment, enabling the Surface Transportation Board to override state/local siting regulations if the facility wouldn't pose an unreasonable risk to public health, safety, or the environment.

This regulation represents unconstitutional federal overreach into traditional state and local police powers over land use and zoning. The Tenth Amendment reserves these matters to states and localities, yet this scheme allows a federal agency to preempt local decisions about waste facilities. The complex permitting process imposes substantial compliance costs (likely millions per facility) that harm small businesses and entrench incumbents. Federal intervention is unnecessary—property rights and local nuisance concerns are properly addressed through state courts and local land-use regimes, which are more responsive to affected communities. The regulation creates a costly bureaucratic layer with no compelling federal interest beyond facilitating interstate commerce, which could be achieved without displacing local control.

This regulation establishes a method for the Surface Transportation Board to adjust civil monetary penalties for inflation annually, in accordance with federal law.

Without inflation adjustments, penalties would lose deterrent value over time, weakening enforcement of transportation regulations. The mechanism ensures penalties remain meaningful without requiring repeated congressional action.

Federal regulation establishing Defense Production Act authority for transportation, enabling government to prioritize contracts and allocate resources for national defense purposes including military production, energy, health, and emergency preparedness programs.

Creates bureaucratic control over civil transportation that distorts markets, raises costs, and enables government capture of private sector resources under vague national defense pretexts - the unseen costs of this centralized control far outweigh any theoretical benefits.

Allows DHS components to assign priority ratings to contracts and orders under the Defense Priorities and Allocation System, enabling government-directed resource allocation for national defense and emergency preparedness.

Imposes hidden compliance costs, distorts market price signals, creates opportunities for regulatory capture, and violates principles of free contract. The standing authority invites mission creep beyond genuine emergencies, burdening businesses with unpredictable regulatory interference.

The regulation mandates the inclusion of the HSAR 48 CFR 3052.212-70 clause in DHS solicitations and contracts for commercial items when applicable and consistent with customary commercial practice, with tailoring permitted as necessary.

Deletion would cause inconsistency in DHS procurement, increasing negotiation costs and uncertainty for contractors, ultimately raising prices for taxpayers and creating unequal treatment. This clause achieves its goal efficiently by providing standardized, vetted terms aligned with customary commercial practice—a consistency that would be difficult to replicate through ad hoc contract drafting and would waste government and private resources.

This regulation governs the management of property by contractors for the Department of Energy, including sensitive items lists, special nuclear material handling, motor vehicle acquisition and disposal, precious metals recovery, and plant clearance procedures. It establishes detailed requirements for contractor inventory management, disposal methods, and reporting obligations.

This regulation creates excessive bureaucratic overhead for DOE contractors with complex compliance requirements that drive up costs without clear safety benefits. The motor vehicle restrictions, precious metals reporting, and disposal procedures impose significant administrative burdens on contractors while achieving minimal public benefit. These functions could be handled through simpler contractual arrangements or left to market mechanisms.

Regulation requiring partner vetting procedures for certain acquisitions under AIDAR 704.70, establishing compliance requirements for federal contracting with international partners.

Creates unnecessary bureaucratic overhead for international partnerships without clear evidence of preventing harm. The vetting requirements likely increase costs and delays for development projects while providing minimal security benefits compared to existing contracting safeguards.

USAID partner vetting requirements for indefinite-delivery contracts, including pre-award requirements, award-fee clauses, and vetting procedures for task orders

Creates costly compliance bureaucracy that delays aid delivery, imposes vetting requirements that may exclude qualified partners based on political criteria, and adds administrative overhead that diverts resources from actual development work