Browse regulations

Regulation establishes procedures for individuals to access, correct, and amend records maintained by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the Privacy Act, including security safeguards, disclosure rules, and penalties for misuse.

The regulation ensures transparency and accountability in handling personal data for the IMLS, aligning with the Privacy Act's purpose of protecting individual privacy while allowing proper access for legitimate inquiries.

Regulations establishing safety standards for pesticide containers, repackaging, and containment structures to prevent spills, leaks, and environmental harm.

High compliance costs ($2T/year) burden consumers and small businesses. Regulations create unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles and risk regulatory capture. Safety goals can be achieved through market-driven solutions rather than heavy regulation.

This regulation establishes a program for appointing Environmental Protection Research Fellows and Special Research Consultants to the EPA, providing stipends, travel allowances, benefits, and training. It authorizes up to five annual appointments from 2006–2011 under the Interior, Environmental and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006, with authority for up to 5-year terms, and applies to research personnel assisting EPA mission-critical work where traditional hiring is impractical.

The program was temporary (2006–2011) and expired; no statutory authority remains active. It creates an unneeded, non-transparent hiring pathway outside standard civil service rules, distorting labor markets and enabling patronage under the guise of 'research flexibility.' The EPA can use existing civil service, excepted service, or contractor mechanisms for specialized talent—no unique benefit justifies this redundant bureaucracy.

EPA Privacy Act regulations establish procedures for individuals to access, correct, and amend their personal records maintained by the agency, while exempting certain criminal enforcement and investigative systems from disclosure requirements to protect ongoing investigations and confidential sources.

Americans would be worse off without these privacy protections, as they provide essential transparency and accountability for government-held personal data while balancing legitimate law enforcement needs through carefully crafted exemptions.

Regulation governs approval, manufacturing, distribution, and security requirements for Postage Evidencing Systems (postage meters and PC Postage products). It requires Postal Service approval to become a provider, mandates compliance with technical specifications (IMIPC), imposes unannounced inspections, requires security weakness reporting within 24 hours, holds providers liable for revenue losses, and grants broad suspension/revocation authority.

This regulation creates classic regulatory capture: the Postal Service, a market participant itself, controls entry into the postage payment system, raising barriers to competition and innovation. Small providers cannot bear the compliance costs (inspections, reporting, technical specs, liability), while incumbents are protected. The 24-hour breach reporting, mandatory approval for system changes, and unlimited liability are disproportionate to any legitimate revenue protection needs. Private certification and market mechanisms (insurance, bonding, reputation) would secure postage integrity far more efficiently without stifling competition and concentrating power in a government monopoly.

Regulation governing public access to Copyright Royalty Board records, including inspection procedures and associated fees for document reproduction services

Public access to regulatory proceedings is essential for transparency and accountability; deletion would reduce oversight of copyright royalty determinations, potentially allowing opaque processes that harm creators and consumers without clear justification for removal.

The regulation outlines the procedures and rules governing the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant program. It defines key terms, describes the types of grants offered, and specifies the responsibilities of the Commission, its staff, and grant recipients. The regulation aims to preserve, publish, and promote the use of primary documentary sources related to U.S. history.

The regulation imposes unnecessary bureaucratic processes that hinder the efficient distribution of grants. It creates a labyrinth of rules that are difficult for applicants to navigate, increasing compliance costs and reducing the likelihood of successful grant applications. The regulation also centralizes control over historical records, which could be better managed at the state and local levels, aligning with the principles of federalism and reducing regulatory burden.

Defines terms and sets rules for NPS Alaska lands covering camping, picnicking, weapons, traps, natural product gathering, fishing, hunting, personal property, area closures, permits, and cabins, superseding state law to protect resources and ensure safety.

The regulation imposes excessive compliance costs, duplicates state regulations, restricts individual liberty, and creates a labyrinthine rule set that citizens cannot reasonably comprehend. Unseen costs include diminished access to public lands, suppressed economic opportunity in rural Alaska, expanded enforcement bureaucracy, and undermining of the rule of law. The resource protection goals can be achieved through far less costly and more decentralized alternatives.

Federal regulation requiring scholarship recipients for special education training to complete service obligations or repay assistance, including definitions of terms, allowable expenses, eligibility requirements, service obligation terms, repayment provisions, and exceptions/deferrals.

Creates artificial barriers to entry in special education workforce while imposing complex compliance costs. The service obligation effectively functions as indentured servitude, forcing recipients into specific employment paths and creating perverse incentives that may reduce supply of qualified special education professionals. Market-based alternatives like direct employment contracts or tuition reimbursement programs would achieve the same goal without federal coercion.

IDEA Part 300 requires states receiving federal funds to provide eligible children with disabilities a free appropriate public education (FAPE) through individualized education programs (IEPs), defines 13 disability categories, and mandates related services and parental rights protections. It applies to all public agencies including schools, charter schools, and state institutions.

This federal mandate violates constitutional federalism by commandeering state and local education systems, imposing crushing compliance costs that divert resources from actual instruction. Unseen consequences include perverse incentives to over-identify disabilities for funding, bureaucratic bloat that creates a special interest lobby resistant to reform, and elimination of local flexibility and parental choice that could better meet children's needs through state-level policies or market-based alternatives.

Implements the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act, requiring public schools receiving federal funds to provide equal access to Boy Scouts and other Title 36 youth groups for meetings and activities in designated forums, with specific definitions and compliance procedures.

This regulation represents federal overreach into local school decision-making, imposing compliance costs on schools and mandating specific treatment for particular organizations. It violates federalism principles by dictating how schools manage their facilities and discriminates in favor of certain youth groups while excluding others. Schools should have autonomy to determine facility use policies without federal mandates.

This regulation establishes standards for conducting 'all appropriate inquiries' into the environmental condition of real property before acquisition, to qualify for the innocent landowner defense against oil pollution liability. It requires environmental professionals to perform site assessments following ASTM standards, including historical reviews, government record searches, interviews, and visual inspections within specific timeframes before purchase.

Imposes costly, duplicative compliance burden on property transactions while creating lucrative regulatory capture opportunities for environmental consultants. The market already prices in known environmental risks; this adds expensive bureaucratic process with marginal safety benefit, stifling investment and perpetuating federal overreach into state property rights.

Regulation establishes comprehensive procedures for the Department of Defense to recover government costs from third-party tortfeasors. It covers worldwide collection of medical expenses (via FMCRA and 10 U.S.C. 1095), lost military pay, and property damage (via FCCA). Sets detailed protocols for incident identification, claim assertion, negotiation, litigation, compromise, and enforcement, with varying approval thresholds based on claim amounts.

Taxpayers would absorb billions annually in unrecovered costs if this mechanism vanished. The government directly pays these expenses as healthcare provider and employer; private individuals lack the resources, legal standing, and incentive to pursue systematic recovery. Deleting it would create a massive public subsidy for third-party negligence while undermining fiscal responsibility.

This regulation establishes the Army Claims System for investigating, processing, and settling claims against and in favor of the United States, including tort claims, personnel claims, and affirmative claims under various federal statutes like the Federal Tort Claims Act and Military Claims Act.

Americans would be worse off if this system was deleted because it provides essential legal recourse for individuals harmed by military operations, ensures accountability for government actions, and provides a structured alternative to litigation that protects both citizens and military personnel from costly lawsuits while ensuring valid claims are fairly compensated.

Implements waiver procedures for erroneous military/civilian pay debts under 10 USC 2774, 32 USC 716, and 5 USC 5584. Establishes multi-tier review process with different thresholds ($1,500) and time limits (3 years) for debt forgiveness based on equity standards.

Creates bureaucratic labyrinth for debt forgiveness that could be handled more efficiently through simpler administrative processes. The multi-tier review structure with different thresholds and complex appeal procedures adds unnecessary compliance costs and delays resolution of legitimate claims.