Browse regulations

These FAA regulations establish rules for certifications, record-keeping, and agent designation for individuals involved in aviation. They prohibit fraudulent statements about airworthiness, require foreign applicants to designate U.S. agents for service, and coordinate with TSA on security threats. The rules apply to certificates, ratings, and authorizations for aircraft, engines, and related products.

Americans would be worse off without these rules because they prevent fraudulent misrepresentation of aircraft safety—a life-or-death matter where market mechanisms alone cannot protect consumers. The certification integrity and anti-fraud provisions are essential to maintaining trust in aviation safety. The U.S. agent requirement ensures legal notice and due process for foreign applicants, while TSA coordination addresses national security risks that transcend economic considerations. These are core prophylactic rules where the cost of instituting alternative safeguards would far exceed current compliance burdens.

This SBA regulation implements the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 for grant recipients, requiring them to maintain drug-free workplaces, publish statements, establish awareness programs, report employee drug convictions within 10 days, and take personnel action or mandate rehabilitation within 30 days. Non-compliance can result in award suspension, termination, or debarment for up to five years.

Imposes significant compliance costs on small businesses and nonprofits as a condition of receiving SBA grants; represents federal overreach into workplace policies that should be determined by states and private employers; creates burdensome reporting requirements and threatens disproportionate penalties (debarment) for drug convictions; violates Tenth Amendment federalism by federalizing matters traditionally within state police powers; constitutes a hidden tax on entities receiving essential capital, effectively raising barriers to entry and protecting incumbents—precisely the regulatory capture and unintended consequences Mises, Hayek, and Friedman warned against.

This regulation mandates that federally insured credit unions display official NCUA signs and include specific advertising statements to inform members about federal insurance coverage, while also requiring accuracy in all advertisements and establishing rules for excess insurance disclosures.

This regulation imposes unnecessary compliance costs on credit unions for mandatory signage and advertising statements that provide minimal consumer benefit beyond what members can already verify through basic research. The requirement forces credit unions to allocate resources to administrative compliance rather than member services, while the detailed signage rules create arbitrary distinctions between federally insured and non-federally insured institutions that could be handled through market disclosure mechanisms.

This regulation governs investment activities of Federal credit unions, establishing safety and soundness requirements for permissible investments, prohibited activities, and comprehensive risk management frameworks including interest rate, credit, liquidity, and concentration risk controls.

Federal credit unions are government-chartered cooperatives that require federal oversight to protect member deposits. This regulation provides essential prudential safeguards that prevent excessive risk-taking and ensure financial stability of institutions that millions of Americans rely on for basic banking services.

Federal Reserve Board policy prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information, with procedures for complaints, investigations, and hearings.

Federal employment discrimination regulations impose compliance costs and create bureaucratic overhead without meaningfully improving workplace equality beyond what market forces and state-level protections already provide. These rules distort hiring decisions, create liability exposure for subjective employment actions, and represent federal overreach into internal personnel matters that should be handled at the organizational level.

Regulation implements the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act for Federal Reserve Board employees, prohibiting solicitation of foreign gifts and establishing procedures for acceptance, reporting, and disposal of gifts and decorations above minimal value, with limited exceptions.

Americans would be worse off without this rule because foreign governments could more easily influence Federal Reserve officials, compromising monetary policy independence. The regulation provides a clear, low-burden framework with transparency and enforceability that would be hard to replicate through informal means, effectively safeguarding against corruption.

This regulation implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act's affiliate marketing rules. It requires financial institutions to provide a clear, conspicuous notice and opt-out option before using eligibility information from an affiliate to make marketing solicitations, unless a pre-existing business relationship exists. It defines key terms like 'eligibility information,' 'pre-existing business relationship,' and 'solicitation,' and sets detailed criteria for when marketing through service providers counts as a solicitation, with exceptions.

Deleting this rule would allow banks to secretly share consumer data among affiliated companies for marketing without consent, undermining privacy and enabling unwanted solicitations. The notice-and-opt-out mechanism achieves a reasonable balance between legitimate business marketing and consumer control in a way that private contracts could not reliably replicate due to information asymmetry and high switching costs.

Federal regulation enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, prohibiting creditors from discriminating based on protected characteristics (race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, public assistance income, or exercising consumer credit rights). Mandates notification requirements, record retention, demographic data collection for mortgage lending, and restricts information gathering and use by creditors.

Heavy-handed federal micromanagement of private credit decisions imposes massive compliance costs on all lenders, which are passed to consumers as higher borrowing costs. It violates constitutional federalism by intruding on state-regulated banking and contract law, creates one-size-fits-all mandates that prevent lenders from using all relevant risk-assessment tools, and generates regulatory capture risks. The private market and state-level laws can address legitimate discrimination concerns without this bloated federal regime.

FEC regulation (11 CFR Part 109) defining coordinated communications between campaigns and outside groups, setting reporting thresholds and timelines for independent expenditures ($250+ quarterly, $10k+ in 48 hours, $1k+ in 24 hours), establishing content and conduct standards for determining coordination, and limiting coordinated party expenditures. Includes expansive 'agent' definitions, verification requirements, and safe harbor provisions.

Imposes substantial compliance costs that function as a hidden tax on political speech, disproportionately burdening small businesses and grassroots organizations while protecting incumbents. Creates complex, vague coordination standards that chill First Amendment rights through subjective enforcement. Federalizes what the Tenth Amendment reserves to states regarding election administration. Reporting timelines create operational burdens that deter political participation without preventing quid pro quo corruption, which the Supreme Court in Citizens United recognized as not present in independent expenditures.

DOE regulation implementing EOs 11988 and 11990, requiring assessments, public notice, and alternatives analysis for actions in floodplains or wetlands, with exemptions for routine maintenance and minor modifications.

The rule duplicates NEPA, imposes costly delays on DOE projects, and federalizes local land-use decisions better handled by states under the Tenth Amendment. Its vague 'practicable alternative' standard invites regulatory abuse and increases taxpayer burdens with marginal added environmental benefit.

Federal Claims Collection Standards for DOE covering debt collection procedures including administrative offset, credit reporting, private collection contractors, and wage garnishment for debts owed to the US government.

Creates massive federal bureaucracy for debt collection that violates constitutional limits on federal power, enables asset seizure without due process, and imposes compliance costs on citizens while protecting government creditors at taxpayer expense.

FSIS regulation requiring Listeria monocytogenes control for ready-to-eat meat/poultry products exposed after lethality treatment. Establishments must choose one of three alternatives: (1) post-lethality treatment + antimicrobial agent; (2) either one with enhanced testing; or (3) sanitation-only with intensive testing. Integrates with HACCP, mandates validation, documentation, and verification.

Deletion would likely increase listeria outbreaks, causing preventable deaths and hospitalizations, particularly among elderly and immunocompromised. The regulation achieves safety through flexible, science-based controls that allow cost-effective implementation while maintaining uniform national standards. A state-by-state approach would create regulatory patchwork, undermine interstate commerce, and reduce protection due to enforcement disparities and information asymmetry in food safety.

Regulation governing the form, administration, and procedures for the naturalization oath ceremony, including the oath text, exemptions for religious/conscientious objections, questionnaire requirements (Form N-445), ceremony logistics, authorized officials, expedited options, and record-keeping. Implements 8 U.S.C. §§ 1448, 1449.

Naturalization is an enumerated federal power under Article I, Section 8, and the oath ceremony is a constitutionally appropriate, solemn ritual that ensures genuine allegiance. The regulation provides essential standardization, prevents inconsistent administration, and includes critical safeguards (N-445 review, eligibility verification) that protect against premature naturalization. Its costs are trivial compared to the trillions cited, and deletion would risk undermining the dignity and integrity of citizenship without appreciable savings.

This regulation mandates the use of specific forms from 8 CFR part 299 in immigration court proceedings, with the EOIR Director empowered to designate which version of each form must be used.

This bureaucratic requirement imposes compliance costs (contributing to the $2T annual burden), creates barriers for small immigration practices and pro se litigants, and federalizes what courts could efficiently handle internally through decentralized administration.

Regulation establishes a federal licensing system for who may represent individuals in immigration proceedings, registering attorneys, accrediting non-profit organizations and their representatives, and permitting limited categories of law students, graduates, and 'reputable individuals' under strict conditions. It sets eligibility criteria, application processes, fee schedules, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements for recognized organizations.

Creates a federal cartel that protects licensed attorneys and accredited non-profits from competition, imposing crushing compliance costs that reduce supply of representation for low-income immigrants. Complex accreditation barriers prevent qualified community members from helping neighbors, while the 'reputable individual' exception is so narrow as to be meaningless. This centralizes control in Washington, overriding state and local oversight, and drives assistance underground where no accountability exists—harming the vulnerable it claims to protect.