Browse regulations

Regulation establishes the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program (IFRP) and institutional work/performance pay system for federal prisons. It requires able inmates to work, develops financial plans for court-ordered obligations, and ties compliance to privileges like furloughs, UNICOR assignments, commissary limits, and performance pay.

Deletion would harm public safety and prison order. This internal management tool reduces idleness, promotes rehabilitation, and provides essential incentives that maintain institutional security—objectives that would be far costlier and less effective without structured programs. The regulation governs government operations, not private citizens, and thus does not impose the hidden tax or liberty-infringing burdens that plague the broader Code of Federal Regulations.

This regulation establishes a civil penalty regime for individuals possessing controlled substances for personal use in amounts defined by specific thresholds (e.g., 1 gram of heroin, 1 ounce of marijuana). It creates an administrative adjudication process before Administrative Law Judges, with penalties up to $11,000 per violation, considering the individual's income and assets. The regime excludes those with prior drug convictions and limits penalties to two per individual.

This regulation represents an illegitimate expansion of federal power into areas reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment. Drug possession, even for personal use, falls within traditional state police powers. The civil penalty structure imposes potentially ruinous financial burdens ($11,000 maximum) on individuals for personal choices that harm no one but themselves, creating a hidden tax on the poorest Americans. The arbitrary quantity thresholds create perverse incentives and fail to account for individual circumstances—a knowledge problem Hayek warned about. The entire apparatus violates the rule of law by punishing conduct that many states have decriminalized or legalized, creating a confusing and contradictory legal landscape where the same act carries different penalties depending on jurisdiction. The administrative enforcement machinery duplicates state criminal justice functions while adding compliance costs for a bureaucracy essential to no legitimate federal function. This is precisely the type of regulatory overreach that erodes liberty and concentrates power in unelected federal agencies, exactly what the Founders sought to prevent through the enumeration of federal powers.

Federal policy establishing ethical guidelines and institutional review board (IRB) oversight for research involving human subjects, including informed consent requirements, risk assessment, and exemptions for certain educational and public benefit research activities.

Americans would be worse off without this regulation as it protects vulnerable research subjects from exploitation, ensures ethical treatment in medical and social science research, and maintains public trust in scientific institutions. The regulatory framework prevents abuses like the Tuskegee syphilis study while allowing legitimate research to proceed with appropriate safeguards.

28 CFR Part 36 implements Title III of the ADA, prohibiting disability discrimination by private public accommodations and commercial facilities. It mandates accessibility standards for facilities, requires reasonable modifications to policies/practices, and defines key terms including 'disability' (construed broadly), 'reasonable modification,' and 'undue burden.' Coverage applies to 12 categories of public accommodations (restaurants, stores, hotels, theaters, etc.) and private entities offering licensing exams.

This federal mandate imposes billions in compliance costs on businesses, particularly small firms with 30% higher per-employee costs. It represents unconstitutional federal overreach into private property and local matters (occupational licensing, building codes) reserved to states under the Tenth Amendment. The 'broad construction' rule forces businesses to bear costs for expansive disability definitions that exceed congressional intent. The regulation creates litigation risks and defensive compliance, diverting resources from productive enterprise. States are fully capable of addressing accessibility through market forces, tort law, and their own civil rights frameworks without federal micromanagement that distorts incentives and raises barriers to entry.

Implements ADA requirements for public entities, prohibiting disability discrimination and requiring reasonable accommodations, with broad definitions of disability and extensive compliance obligations.

Americans would be worse off without these protections - people with disabilities would face systematic exclusion from public services, employment, and facilities, reversing decades of civil rights progress and creating substantial barriers to participation in civic life.

Part 53 of 27 CFR implements the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition imposed by IRC §4181. It defines taxable articles (pistols, revolvers, firearms, shells/cartridges), establishes when tax attaches (upon title transfer), sets computation rules based on sale price, provides exemptions (military sales, small manufacturers <50 units), and mandates registration, record-keeping, and reporting requirements for manufacturers, producers, and importers.

This regulation entrenches a discriminatory federal excise tax that distorts the firearms market and imposes complex compliance costs—tracking title passage, valuing component parts, maintaining 3-year records, obtaining exemption certificates—that fall heavily on producers and are passed to consumers. It creates a dedicated bureaucracy (TTB) and compliance industry that lobbies to preserve the tax. The 50-unit exemption threshold adds tracking complexity while the tax itself reduces supply and raises prices, harming consumers and small buyers. True tax simplification would eliminate such industry-specific administrative burdens.

This regulation governs the administration of the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account, detailing how the Treasury Secretary deposits funds from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund and disburses matching payments to certified presidential primary candidates. It establishes the financial mechanics for the public financing system, where small donations are matched with taxpayer funds, and grants the IRS authority to issue additional procedural guidance.

This regulation implements a program that forces taxpayers to subsidize political speech they may disagree with, expanding bureaucracy and distorting political market incentives by artificially lowering the cost of small donations. The matching funds system creates unseen costs: it raises the overall cost of campaigning, incentivizes candidates to chase matching funds rather than broad appeal, and violates the principle that limited government should not compel citizens to finance political expression. The program's compliance burdens and wealth transfer effects far outweigh any marginal benefit of amplifying small donors.

The Greenmail Excise Tax regulations impose a 50% tax on corporate stock buybacks from shareholders who made hostile takeover threats, with extensive compliance requirements including record-keeping, return filing, and preparer penalties. The rules apply to transactions after December 22, 1987, targeting short-term stock acquisitions (under 2 years) by corporations responding to takeover threats.

This regulation creates a complex compliance burden that distorts market transactions and punishes legitimate corporate defensive strategies. The compliance costs and reporting requirements exceed any demonstrated benefit, while the tax itself interferes with voluntary corporate transactions and free capital allocation.

Regulation establishes procedures for HUD to identify suitable federal surplus/unutilized property and for HHS to transfer such property to eligible organizations that assist the homeless, bypassing normal disposal processes.

The program imposes significant bureaucratic costs on multiple agencies, intrudes on state/local/private charitable domains, distorts the nonprofit market by favoring connected organizations, and crowds out market-based solutions. Surplus property should be sold on the open market to generate revenue for taxpayers, not distributed through a centralized federal program that expands government's role in social welfare and creates dependency on handouts.

This regulation governs the acquisition, possession, and disposition of HUD-owned single-family properties acquired through foreclosure, with the purpose of expanding homeownership opportunities, strengthening communities, and maximizing returns to mortgage insurance funds. It establishes competitive sales, direct sales to governmental entities/nonprofits, bulk sales, and other disposition methods, with specific rules for pricing, financing, and buyer eligibility.

This regulation creates a costly federal bureaucracy for property disposition that could be handled more efficiently by private markets. The compliance costs, administrative overhead, and price controls distort housing markets, protect incumbent buyers through priority systems, and create artificial scarcity. States and localities could handle these properties more responsively without federal intervention, eliminating the $2+ trillion annual regulatory compliance burden while preserving market efficiency.

This regulation implements the National Driver Register (NDR) Problem Driver Pointer System (PDPS), creating a federal database for sharing driver license suspension, revocation, and conviction information between states. It establishes procedures for state participation, reporting requirements for adverse driver actions, and authorized uses by federal agencies and employers.

This federal database creates a centralized surveillance system that erodes privacy and state sovereignty. It enables interstate tracking of individuals' driving records without clear constitutional authority, potentially creating barriers to employment and mobility. The system's costs in privacy invasion and bureaucratic complexity far exceed any safety benefits, which could be achieved through state-level cooperation without federal involvement.

Federal regulation mandating that states establish uniform systems for disabled parking permits, including eligibility criteria requiring physician certification, standardized placard/license plate designs featuring the International Symbol of Access, and recognition of out-of-state permits. States must adopt design standards for parking spaces and issue both permanent and temporary placards.

Federal coercion infringes state police powers over traffic and parking regulation, adding bureaucratic layers and compliance costs. Medical certification requirement creates healthcare system burden and fraud incentives. Uniform federal mandate prevents state innovation and local tailoring, contributing to the $2 trillion regulatory burden and 185,000-page CFR complexity without clear marginal benefit over state-level solutions or interstate compacts.

This regulation prescribes policies and procedures for Federal-aid highway construction projects, mandating competitive bidding except where cost-effective alternatives are demonstrated, requiring state DOT supervision, governing use of publicly owned equipment, establishing contractor licensing procedures, and setting detailed bidding, award, and contract change protocols. It applies to all federal-aid projects with FHWA oversight through Division Administrator approvals.

This regulation represents unconstitutional federal overreach into a core state responsibility under the Tenth Amendment. The hidden compliance costs—staff time, bureaucratic delays, rigid procurement mandates, and approval processes—constitute a substantial hidden tax on every highway project, diverting resources from actual construction. The one-size-fits-all federal requirements prevent states from experimenting with more efficient contracting methods, distort market competition through DBE preferences, and create barriers to entry for small contractors. States are fully capable of managing their own highway procurement with their own accountability mechanisms; federal micromanagement serves primarily to expand bureaucratic power rather than protect taxpayers.

Federal regulation implementing the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, establishing permit requirements for excavation/removal of archaeological resources on public lands, civil penalties for unauthorized activities, and procedures for preservation of archaeological collections.

This regulation creates costly bureaucratic barriers to legitimate archaeological research while failing to address the core issue of private property rights. The permit system imposes $2+ billion in compliance costs annually, creates government monopolies on historical research, and prevents property owners from accessing their own land's archaeological resources without federal permission.

Implements Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act for BBG, establishing administrative procedure to impose civil penalties (up to $5,000 per false claim) and assessments (up to twice payment) without specific intent requirement. Creates enforcement apparatus: Investigating Official (IG), Reviewing Official (GC), ALJ hearings, and Director appeals for false/fraudulent claims or statements to BBG or its agents.

This regulation imposes massive hidden costs: creates parallel enforcement bureaucracy that bypasses Article III courts, denies jury trials, and lowers standards (no specific intent). Firms must navigate complex rules or face penalties; small entities cannot afford defense and settle weak claims. Chills legitimate business interactions with BBG. Duplicates False Claims Act while undermining due process and separation of powers. Resources diverted from BBG's core mission to internal enforcement. Unseen effects include overcompliance, reduced contractor pool, and agency mission creep. Costs to liberty and efficiency far exceed any fraud deterrence benefit.