Browse regulations

This regulation establishes Kentucky's state regulatory program for surface coal mining operations under the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), with conditional approvals and specific requirements. It outlines a cooperative federal-state agreement for regulating mining on federal lands within Kentucky, detailing permit processes, inspection regimes, enforcement authority, bond requirements, and various disapproved provisions.

This represents federal overreach into state jurisdiction under the Tenth Amendment, imposing high compliance costs on an important American industry that get passed to consumers. The program duplicates what Kentucky could handle through state regulation, property law, and tort system, while creating barriers for small operators. The underlying SMCRA should be repealed to restore state sovereignty and free market principles in mining regulation.

This MSHA regulation mandates health standards for all U.S. mines to control respirable crystalline silica exposure. Key provisions: PEL of 50 µg/m³ (8-hr TWA), action level 25 µg/m³; requires engineering controls, periodic sampling, corrective actions when PEL exceeded, respirators, medical surveillance (including chest X-rays and pulmonary tests), and extensive recordkeeping. Applies to coal, metal, and nonmetal mines with compliance dates in 2025-2026.

Constitutional overreach: workplace safety is reserved to states under Tenth Amendment, not a federal enumerated power. Compliance imposes crushing costs—especially on small mines—protecting incumbents via regulatory barriers. Supplants market-based safety solutions: workers could command risk premiums, tort law deters negligence, and states can tailor rules to local conditions. Federal one-size-fits-all mandate creates a knowledge problem—distant regulators cannot optimize for thousands of unique mining environments. Unseen consequences include reduced domestic production, higher consumer prices, stifled innovation, and erosion of rule of law through complex, unknowable requirements. Liberty demands repeal of this federal intrusion.

Implements the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, requiring employers with 15+ employees to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related limitations, prohibiting forced leave when other accommodations exist, limiting medical documentation requests, and mandating an interactive process. Defines 'known limitation' broadly to include any physical/mental condition related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, whether or not it meets ADA disability standards.

Imposes substantial compliance costs and administrative burdens on employers, especially small businesses, while expanding federal power into employment relations best left to states and market forces. The overbroad definition covering 'potential or intended pregnancy' and subjective 'undue hardship' standard create litigation incentives, discourage hiring of women of childbearing age, and distort employment contracts through regulatory intervention. The mandate replaces voluntary accommodations that competitive markets would naturally provide with a one-size-fits-all federal requirement, raising barriers to entry and protecting incumbents from competition—precisely the unintended consequences von Mises warned of.

EEOC's implementing regulations for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), detailing procedures for requesting, processing, and appealing access to agency records. Includes definitions, request requirements, routing protocols, timelines, fee structures, expedited processing criteria, and appeals process.

Transparency laws are foundational to accountability in a constitutional republic. These procedural regulations operationalize FOIA, providing clarity and predictability that protects both requesters and the agency from arbitrary decisions. The costs of maintaining these rules are minimal compared to the severe consequences of opacity: unchecked bureaucratic power, corruption, and erosion of the rule of law. Sunshine is the best disinfectant, and these rules ensure sunlight reaches EEOC operations without creating substantive barriers to legitimate access.

DOL interpretive rule establishing a multi-factor 'economic realities' test to classify workers as employees (covered by FLSA) or independent contractors (not covered). The test considers opportunity for profit/loss, investments, relationship permanence, degree of control, whether work is integral to the business, and skill/initiative.

The subjective six-factor test creates compliance uncertainty and expands federal regulatory reach into voluntary contracting. It raises barriers to flexible work arrangements, disproportionately burdens small businesses, and interferes with economic freedom. The costs of this regulatory overreach exceed any marginal worker protection benefits.

Implements the HAVANA Act, providing discretionary lump-sum payments to DOJ/FBI employees and dependents who suffer qualifying brain injuries from hostile acts, terrorism, or designated incidents while serving overseas on or after Jan 1, 2016. Requires certification by board-certified neurologists or physiatrists and has specific eligibility thresholds based on disability severity.

Delete would leave injured federal employees and families without targeted compensation for brain trauma sustained in dangerous overseas service. This is a narrow, medically-verified benefit program akin to workers' comp; its removal creates hardship without reducing any meaningful regulatory burden on the public, as it imposes no compliance costs on citizens or businesses.

This CFR section mandates the display of OMB control numbers on IRS regulations to comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980. It is purely procedural documentation of an internal administrative requirement.

This is redundant bureaucratic bookkeeping that adds no substantive protection for citizens. The OMB control number system already governs paperwork approvals through existing law and OMB regulations; requiring CFR display creates unnecessary compliance costs and regulatory complexity without providing meaningful transparency or constraint on agency power.

Implements a 1% excise tax on stock repurchases by publicly-traded domestic corporations (covered corporations). The tax applies to the fair market value of repurchased stock with various exceptions including reorganizations, retirement plan contributions, and a $1M de minimis threshold. Contains extensive definitions, netting rules for stock issuances, and special provisions for foreign corporations and specified affiliates.

Creates a compliance bureaucracy that distorts efficient capital allocation and punishes returning capital to shareholders. The tax raises costs on publicly-traded companies, disproportionately harms small businesses seeking capital markets access, and substitutes bureaucratic judgment for market-driven decisions about optimal capital structure. Its complexity (185+ pages of rules) violates rule of law principles while generating negligible revenue at massive compliance cost. The tax will induce inefficient corporate behavior as firms engineer around it, wasting resources on tax avoidance rather than productive investment.

IRS regulations (26 U.S.C. sections 4971, 4974) imposing excise tax penalties on retirement plan sponsors for underfunding (10% of unpaid contributions, escalating to 100% if uncorrected) and on participants for insufficient required minimum distributions (25%, reducible to 10% with prompt correction). Contains dense technical rules for calculating deficiencies, 'correcting' contributions, and determining taxable periods.

Imposes $2T+ national compliance burden, with per-employee costs 30% higher for small firms than large corporations, protecting incumbents from competition. Perverse incentives: penalty escalation discourages prompt self-correction. Unseen effect: many small employers abandon offering retirement plans entirely rather than navigate this labyrinth. The same objectives are achievable more efficiently through: (1) tying tax deductions to funding compliance (already exists), (2) private enforcement under ERISA and state contract law, and (3) market disciplining of underfunded plans. Federal micromanagement of state-law contracts violates Tenth Amendment federalism.

Section 47.5000D-1 is a purely organizational table of contents for the Designated Drugs Excise Tax Regulations under 26 U.S.C. 5000D. It contains no substantive rules, requirements, or compliance obligations—only a title and applicability date.

This section generates zero revenue but inflicts the hidden tax of regulatory complexity. It contributes to the 185,000-page labyrinth, making the CFR harder to navigate and understand without providing any legal or practical value. Removing it reduces bureaucratic bloat while preserving all actual taxpayer obligations found in the subsequent substantive sections.

Federal tax regulation governing the installment method of accounting for sales where payments span multiple tax years. It establishes rules for when the method applies, how to calculate the gross profit ratio, treatment of contingent payments, and basis recovery. The method allows taxpayers to recognize gain proportionally as payments are received rather than all at the time of sale.

The installment method aligns tax liability with actual cash receipt, preventing taxation of unrealized gains. Deleting it would force immediate recognition of full gain regardless of payment timing, creating severe cash flow problems and forcing taxpayers to sell assets simply to pay taxes on paper gains. This would distort economic decisions and violate the principle that income should be taxed when realized, not when contracted. While complex, it implements a fundamentally fair and economically sound principle that matches tax with economic reality.

This regulation governs tax-exempt mortgage subsidy bonds, defining which bonds qualify for tax-exempt status (qualified mortgage bonds and qualified veterans' mortgage bonds) versus taxable mortgage subsidy bonds. It sets requirements including use of proceeds for owner-occupied residences, income targeting (qualified census tracts/areas of chronic economic distress), geographic restrictions within issuer's jurisdiction, 3-year ownership requirement with exceptions, and detailed rules for acquisition costs, home improvement loans, and rehabilitation loans. The regulation creates extensive compliance mechanisms and definitions spanning approximately 15,000+ words.

This represents federal intervention in housing markets through tax-exempt bond subsidies, violating free market principles and constitutional federalism. The regulation distorts housing prices, creates preferential treatment for certain buyers, imposes massive compliance costs on issuers and participants, and enables regulatory capture by the housing finance industry. States and localities can address housing affordability if they choose, without federal tax code manipulation. The 185,000+ page CFR burden includes such harmful complexity that no citizen can reasonably know the rules—an assault on rule of law. Better America exists to eliminate, not maintain, such market-distorting federal overreach.

Procedural rules for taxpayers to apply for tentative refunds under IRC §6411(d), which allows accelerated refunds when taxpayers restore income to others and claim a corresponding deduction under §1341. Specifies required forms (Form 1139 for corporations, Form 1045 for others), mandatory information to include, filing deadlines, and clarifies that the application is not itself a claim for credit or refund.

Without this regulation, taxpayers entitled to refunds would face uncertainty and delays in recovering overpaid taxes. The procedural clarity ensures efficient administration of a legitimate tax benefit, minimizing bureaucratic friction while protecting taxpayer rights. The minimal compliance burden is vastly outweighed by the certainty and speed it provides in returning money to citizens.

Regulations implementing Tribal Self-Governance under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, establishing procedures for eligible Indian Tribes and Consortia to negotiate compacts and funding agreements to administer federal programs (PSFAs) formerly managed by the BIA/BIE/BTFA, with selection capped at 50 new Tribes per year, audit requirements, and withdrawal mechanisms.

This program fundamentally transfers administrative control from federal bureaucracy to Tribal governments—voluntarily—advancing sovereignty and localism while reducing Federal domination. Overturning it would re-centralize authority, undo negotiated sovereign-to-sovereign relationships, and increase the very Federal bureaucracy the Act aims to shrink. The costs of repeal (broken tribal expectations, re-federalization of programs) outweigh the modest regulatory overhead needed to manage a voluntary transition.

This regulation implements procedures under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) for the Department of the Interior's review and approval of Tribal-State gaming compacts and amendments. It defines key terms, establishes submission requirements, sets a 45-day review timeline with automatic approval if no action is taken, and outlines grounds for disapproval. The rule specifies what provisions may or may not be included in compacts, including limits on revenue sharing, jurisdiction, and topics directly related to gaming operations.

This regulation imposes a costly federal bureaucracy on sovereign-to-sovereign negotiations, violating federalism principles. The review process creates barriers to voluntary agreements, restricts Tribes' and States' ability to negotiate terms tailored to their circumstances, and imposes significant compliance costs on both governments. The 'directly related to gaming' test and scrutiny of revenue sharing provisions undermine IGRA's purpose of promoting tribal economic development. Federal oversight should be limited to clear statutory violations, not substantive review of negotiated terms between sovereigns, respecting the knowledge problem that makes federal regulators ill-suited to second-guess these agreements.