Browse regulations

Federal regulation governing permits for discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States under Clean Water Act Section 404, establishing permit requirements, exemptions for farming/forestry activities, and coordination between Corps of Engineers and EPA.

This regulation creates massive federal regulatory burden on property owners and businesses, with compliance costs exceeding $2 trillion annually. It represents unconstitutional federal overreach into land use decisions that should be handled at state/local level under Tenth Amendment. The complex permitting system creates barriers to entry for small businesses while enabling regulatory capture by large corporations who can afford compliance costs.

This regulation establishes permit requirements for structures and work in navigable waters under the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, defining jurisdiction, permit types, and specific policies for various activities including artificial reefs, dredging, and international facilities.

This regulation creates an unnecessary federal bottleneck for water-related infrastructure projects that should be handled at state/local level under the Tenth Amendment. The Commerce Clause has been stretched beyond constitutional limits to federalize what are essentially local waterway activities. Small businesses and property owners face disproportionate compliance costs while the regulation's environmental benefits are minimal compared to state-level protections already in place.

This regulation governs the Corps of Engineers' review process for permits to construct dikes or dams in navigable waters of the United States under the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. It establishes special policies including federal/state approval requirements, defines key terms, and delegates decision authority between federal and district engineers based on whether waters are interstate or intrastate.

This regulation represents unnecessary federal overreach into waterway infrastructure that should be handled at state and local levels. The approval requirements from Congress or state legislatures create bureaucratic delays and costs without clear safety benefits. Private property owners and states are better positioned to assess local waterway needs than federal bureaucrats. The regulation's existence also enables regulatory capture by incumbent operators and creates barriers to entry for smaller entities seeking to develop water infrastructure.

This regulation outlines the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' comprehensive permit program for regulating activities in navigable waters and wetlands under multiple federal statutes including the Clean Water Act and Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. It establishes a public interest review standard, individual and general permit processes, and requires coordination with numerous federal and state agencies. The program requires permits for dams, dredging, fill material, structures, and other modifications affecting waters of the United States, with special protections for wetlands and extensive considerations for environmental, historic, and wildlife impacts.

This regulatory program represents a massive federal intrusion into private property rights and local land use decisions, violating Tenth Amendment federalism. The vague 'public interest' standard grants bureaucrats unlimited discretion, inviting regulatory capture that protects incumbents from competition. Compliance costs—permits, studies, delays, legal fees—constitute a hidden tax that disproportionately crushes small businesses and stifles innovation, housing, and infrastructure development. The program has metastasized far beyond its original navigation-protection purpose into a backdoor federal zoning authority. The unseen costs—reduced supply, higher prices, lost economic opportunities—dwarf any marginal environmental benefits that states could address more efficiently through market mechanisms and local governance. The rule of law suffers as no citizen can navigate this 185,000+ page labyrinth.

Federal regulation mandating workplace safety and health standards for offshore oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf, including requirements to control recognized hazards, provide personal protective equipment, and maintain safe working conditions.

Compliance imposes substantial costs on energy producers, stifles innovation in safety practices through rigid mandates, and creates barriers to entry for smaller operators. Market-driven incentives—liability, insurance, and labor mobility—effectively discipline safety without federal micromanagement. The vague 'recognized hazards' standard invites arbitrary enforcement and regulatory capture, while federal overreach displaces more agile state oversight and private safety standards.

This DOD regulation mandates the reporting of births and deaths of Armed Forces members and their dependents to appropriate civil authorities (domestic and foreign) to ensure proper vital statistics registration. It assigns duties to medical officers and commanding officers, with specific procedures for events occurring in naval hospitals, on ships, aircraft, and overseas installations, and references Part 138 for birth registration of infants born in military medical facilities abroad.

Without this regulation, military families could face significant legal and administrative hardships, including gaps in vital records that might deny children citizenship or benefits, and create inheritance or documentation challenges, especially for overseas births. The mandated reporting ensures consistent, timely registration to both local and U.S. authorities—a uniform framework that would be difficult to achieve through voluntary or decentralized measures.

This regulation prescribes guidelines and policies for administering CHAMPUS (Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services), a federal healthcare benefits program for military personnel, retirees, and their families across multiple uniformed services. It establishes organizational structures, claims processing mechanisms, benefit definitions, provider requirements, and program integrity measures. The regulation covers eligibility, covered services, reimbursement methods, fraud prevention, and includes provisions for demonstration projects and partnership programs.

This regulation governs a legitimate federal benefit program for uniformed services personnel under Congress's constitutional authority to raise and support armies and maintain a navy (Art. I, Sec. 8). The program serves a discrete, congressionally-defined population—active duty members, retirees, and their families—not the general public. Repealing it would disrupt healthcare access for those who served, creating immediate harm to beneficiaries who rely on these benefits. The administrative framework ensures consistent nationwide coverage for service members who move across states and deployments, addressing legitimate federal concerns about portability and uniform standards that states could not provide. While compliance costs exist, they are justified as part of the government's obligation to care for those in uniform, and the regulation itself can be simplified without full repeal.

5 CFR Part 99 governs access by DoD, OPM, and CIA to state/local criminal history records for national security vetting and provides indemnification agreements to protect states from liability when disclosing such records. It implements 5 U.S.C. 9101(b)(3), requires states to have had restrictive laws in place by December 4, 1985, and sets procedures for consent, use limitations, and claim notifications. The regulation explicitly states it shall expire December 4, 1988, unless Congress extends it.

This regulation expired on December 4, 1988—over 37 years ago. It represents a temporary 1980s legislative compromise that Congress allowed to sunset. Maintaining expired regulations on the books creates legal confusion, wastes administrative resources tracking obsolete provisions, and undermines the rule of law by flooding the Code of Federal Regulations with defunct rules that no citizen or business can feasibly track. If the underlying authority remains necessary, Congress must reauthorize it through proper legislation. Removing this expired provision reduces regulatory clutter without affecting any current operations.

This regulation establishes the legal framework for electronic book-entry systems holding U.S. Treasury securities, defining three systems (TRADES, Legacy Treasury Direct, TreasuryDirect), setting rules for ownership, transfers, and security interests, and incorporating UCC Article 8 for governing intermediary relationships.

This regulation provides the essential legal infrastructure enabling efficient electronic Treasury securities markets. Deleting it would undermine the certainty of ownership rights and transfer mechanics that allow government debt to be traded electronically at scale, increasing borrowing costs for taxpayers and potentially forcing a costly reversion to paper-based systems.

Federal certification regime for blasters in surface coal mining on federal/Indian lands, requiring age 21+, 1-2 years experience, training, exams, fees, and ongoing renewal; includes reciprocity, suspension, and revocation procedures.

Imposes heavy compliance costs and entry barriers, disproportionately harming small businesses and new workers. Federal licensing usurps state authority under the Tenth Amendment and distorts labor markets. Safety outcomes can be achieved more efficiently via private certification, insurance requirements, and employer liability, while this regulation creates bureaucratic overhead, reduces competition, and raises energy costs for consumers.

Establishes a federal grant program (max $3M) for states/Indian tribes with approved reclamation plans to develop self-sustaining insurance programs covering private property damage from underground coal mining subsidence. Grants fund program establishment, administration, and capitalization, but programs must be actuarially sound, recover damages from responsible parties, and remain state/tribally administered.

Federal grants coerce state policy via conditional spending, violating Tenth Amendment principles. Government insurance programs distort price signals about mining risk, create moral hazard, and crowd out private-market solutions that would emerge if property rights were fully protected through tort law. The program normalizes federal intrusion into state-regulated insurance markets and represents an unseen cost of reduced market innovation and expanded bureaucratic footprint.

Establishes federal grant programs administered by USGS to fund water-resources research and technology development at educational institutions, private firms, foundations, individuals, and state/local governments, with dollar-for-dollar matching requirements and extensive reporting obligations.

Duplicates private and state-level market functions while imposing significant compliance burdens and distorting research priorities. The program crowds out private funding, forces resource diversion through matching requirements, and centralizes decisions that belong locally. Administrative overhead and reporting mandates consume resources that could otherwise fund actual research. Water research would be better allocated by private firms, utilities, foundations, and state governments responding to actual user needs rather than federal bureaucratic priorities.

This regulation implements Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, prohibiting discrimination based on disability in federal agency programs and activities. It defines key terms, establishes accessibility requirements, and creates complaint procedures to ensure equal participation for handicapped persons in government services.

Americans would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because it ensures equal access to federal services for disabled citizens. Without it, federal agencies could discriminate against handicapped persons, denying them participation in programs they've paid for through taxes. The regulation provides essential protections that markets cannot adequately address due to information asymmetries and the public nature of government services.

Federal regulation implementing the Equal Pay Act (EPA) to prohibit sex-based wage discrimination for equal work, covering scope, definitions, and standards for determining equal skill, effort, and responsibility.

Protects workers from sex-based wage discrimination, ensuring equal pay for equal work regardless of gender. This fundamental workplace protection benefits all Americans by promoting fairness and economic equality.

This regulation establishes federal debt collection procedures for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), covering administrative offset, salary offset, consumer reporting agency disclosures, collection service contracts, and compromise/suspension/termination of collection actions. It implements federal claims collection standards and provides detailed procedures for debt determination, notice, collection methods, and debtor rights.

This regulation represents excessive federal bureaucracy that intrudes on private debt collection and creates a parallel system of government debt enforcement. The extensive procedures for administrative offset, salary garnishment, and consumer reporting agency disclosures create compliance costs and regulatory complexity that could be handled through existing legal mechanisms. The federal government should not have special collection powers beyond those available to private creditors.