Browse regulations

This regulation implements the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, establishing procedures for public access to agency records, fee structures, exemptions, and appeal processes.

Americans would be worse off without FOIA transparency. This regulation enables public scrutiny of government operations, which is essential for accountability in a free society. The modest administrative costs pale in comparison to the value of an informed citizenry able to monitor federal agencies. The exemptions appropriately balance transparency with legitimate needs like national security and privacy. Repealing it would return us to the pre-FOIA era of government secrecy, undermining the rule of law.

This regulation establishes State Advisory Committees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, creating a network of 51 committees (50 states + DC) that advise on voting rights, discrimination, and equal protection issues. Committees have 11+ members appointed by the Commission, hold public meetings, can initiate studies, and produce reports on civil rights matters within their states. The structure includes formal meeting procedures, subcommittee authority, and reimbursement policies for members.

Creates redundant bureaucratic layers that duplicate existing civil rights enforcement mechanisms while burdening taxpayers with compliance costs. These committees add administrative overhead without providing unique value beyond what federal agencies and state governments already perform, enabling regulatory capture and partisan advocacy under the guise of objective civil rights assessment.

Procedural rules for U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearings, including subpoena procedures, witness rights, Sunshine Act compliance, and protections against defamation/incrimination.

These rules provide essential due process safeguards against government overreach. Deleting them would allow the Commission to abuse subpoena power and harm individuals without recourse, violating the rule of law. They ensure fairness in proceedings, a cornerstone of liberty.

Federal civil rights monitoring agency that investigates voting rights violations, studies discrimination, evaluates federal policies, serves as information clearinghouse, and produces annual reports on civil rights enforcement. Operates through 8 commissioners, 6 regional offices, and 51 state advisory committees.

Creates a redundant bureaucratic layer that duplicates functions already performed by DOJ Civil Rights Division, state agencies, and private organizations. Compliance costs and administrative overhead exceed any marginal benefit while fostering regulatory capture and mission creep beyond constitutional bounds.

The NSF research misconduct regulation defines fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism in NSF-funded research and establishes a process for inquiries, investigations, and adjudication, primarily by awardee institutions with oversight by the NSF Office of Inspector General. It sets standards of proof, possible sanctions (from reprimand to debarment), interim protective actions, and appeals, while protecting whistleblower confidentiality and exempting records from FOIA.

Deleting this regulation would increase waste of taxpayer funds, erode public trust in scientific research, and lead to inconsistent or absent responses to misconduct. It achieves its objectives efficiently by combining institutional responsibility with independent federal oversight, due process, and uniform standards—something that cannot be reliably duplicated by voluntary institutional policies or criminal statutes alone.

FEMA regulation requiring states, localities, and tribal governments to develop and maintain federally-approved hazard mitigation plans as a condition for receiving disaster relief and mitigation grants. Establishes detailed requirements for plan content, risk assessment, mitigation strategies, coordination processes, and 5-year update cycles. Creates Standard vs Enhanced plans with different funding eligibility.

This regulation unconstitutionally federalizes state and local land-use planning through grant coercion, violating Tenth Amendment principles. It imposes massive bureaucratic costs on states and localities to satisfy Washington's planning mandates, substituting federal judgment for local knowledge. The conditional funding structure distorts local decision-making toward compliance rather than genuine risk reduction. Hayek's knowledge problem makes centralized mitigation planning inherently ineffective—local officials best understand their unique hazards and community needs. The regulation creates a permanent federal regulatory presence in what should be purely state and local affairs, expanding FEMA's mission creep while doing little to offset the moral hazard created by federal disaster insurance programs. True mitigation would emerge from decentralized market signals: risk-based insurance premiums, state-level initiatives, and private property owners bearing full risk costs, not federal planning bureaucracy.

Regulates commercial and recreational use of public lands through permit and fee systems, covering special recreation permits for commercial, competitive, and organized group activities, plus recreation use permits for fee areas like campgrounds

Creates unnecessary bureaucratic barriers to accessing public lands, imposes costly compliance burdens on small businesses and non-profits, and grants federal agencies excessive control over what should be open-access resources. The complex permit system discourages spontaneous recreation and entrepreneurship while generating minimal revenue compared to administrative costs.

Establishes eligibility criteria and training requirements for law enforcement personnel to protect Bureau of Reclamation facilities and lands, ensuring compliance with applicable laws when exercising the Secretary of the Interior's authority. Creates a framework for cooperative agreements between federal, state, local, and tribal agencies for law enforcement services on Reclamation lands.

Creates a costly bureaucratic framework for law enforcement services that should be handled by existing state and local agencies. The federal government lacks constitutional authority to micromanage law enforcement training and fitness standards across jurisdictions, imposing hidden compliance costs on taxpayers while duplicating existing law enforcement capabilities.

Implements federal subsistence management program on Alaska public lands, regulating rural residents' fishing and hunting rights under ANILCA with specific geographic boundaries and eligibility requirements.

Creates complex bureaucratic system with $2+ trillion compliance costs, violates constitutional federalism by federalizing traditional state/local resource management, and establishes discriminatory rural-only eligibility that distorts market incentives and creates artificial scarcity.

Federal Medicaid managed care regulations establishing requirements for contracts between states and managed care organizations (MCOs), prepaid inpatient/outpatient health plans (PIHPs/PAHPs), and primary care case management entities (PCCMs) to deliver Medicaid services through managed care delivery systems

Federalized healthcare delivery system creates massive bureaucratic overhead, distorts market incentives, and prevents states from experimenting with more efficient delivery models - the $2 trillion compliance costs and 185,000 pages of regulations represent a direct assault on limited government principles and state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment

Regulations establishing self-governance compacts and funding agreements between DHHS and Indian Tribes for health services, implementing Tribal Self-Governance Act provisions to transfer control and funding to Tribal governments.

This regulation enables Tribal self-governance of health services, fulfilling federal trust responsibilities and government-to-government relationships with Indian Tribes. Americans would be worse off if deleted because it would eliminate Tribal control over healthcare decisions, reduce access to culturally appropriate services, and increase bureaucratic oversight that has historically failed to meet Tribal health needs.

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) provides compensation to DOE/contractor workers and survivors for radiation-induced cancers from nuclear weapons/energy programs. NIOSH conducts dose reconstructions using monitoring data, workplace records, and worst-case assumptions when data is incomplete. The Special Exposure Cohort covers workers where reconstruction is infeasible. DOL adjudicates claims using probability of causation.

The federal government bears a clear moral and legal obligation to compensate those it harmed through radiation exposure during classified nuclear programs. This program fulfills that duty through a systematic, science-based method with appropriate pro-claimant assumptions when records are incomplete. It does not regulate or burden the public, distort markets, or create cronyist advantages—it provides restitution to workers sacrificed for national security.

EEOICPA provides compensation for DOE employees with radiation-related cancers, using probability of causation calculations based on dose reconstruction and epidemiological data. DOL adjudicates claims using NIOSH-IREP software to determine if cancer was at least 50% likely caused by occupational radiation exposure.

This program compensates workers who developed cancers from occupational radiation exposure at DOE facilities. Without it, these workers would bear the full cost of their illnesses, creating a significant moral hazard where employers might not adequately protect workers from known radiation risks.

Regulation implements the Government in the Sunshine Act for the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. It defines meetings, mandates public access to meetings with narrow exemptions, requires advance notice, recording/minutes, and establishes procedures for closed sessions and public access to records.

Transparency in federal agency decision-making is essential for public accountability and preventing backroom deals that could compromise chemical safety investigations. This regulation enforces Sunshine Act requirements systematically, ensuring the public can observe Board deliberations while balancing legitimate needs for confidentiality. Without it, the CSB could operate with far less transparency, undermining public trust in accident investigations that affect workplace and community safety.

This regulation establishes the Office of Environmental Quality Management Fund, a no-year appropriations account for financing interagency environmental projects and study contracts. The fund allows multiple federal agencies to pool resources for environmental research and coordination activities, with specific procedures for payments, budgeting, and expenditure authorization. It creates a centralized mechanism for environmental collaboration across federal agencies while maintaining separate subaccounts for individual projects.

This regulation creates a bureaucratic mechanism that centralizes environmental coordination at the federal level, undermining constitutional federalism. States and local governments are better positioned to handle environmental issues that affect their specific regions. The fund represents another layer of federal bureaucracy that adds compliance costs without clear benefits, and environmental coordination could occur through voluntary interstate agreements or state-level initiatives rather than federal mandates.