Browse regulations

This regulation establishes federal procedures for witness fees, travel expenses, and allowances for judicial and agency proceedings, covering eligibility criteria, payment rates, and administrative requirements for both federal employees and private witnesses including aliens.

This regulation creates unnecessary bureaucratic complexity and administrative overhead for witness compensation. The market could efficiently handle witness fees through private agreements, eliminating the need for federal involvement in what should be a simple contractual matter between parties in litigation.

27 CFR Part 25 regulates breweries and pilot brewing plants, covering location, construction, equipment, operations, and qualifications. Includes extensive requirements for forms, bonds, formula approvals for non-traditional processes, TTB inspections, and detailed operational specifications.

Excessive compliance costs fall disproportionately on small breweries, violating free market principles. Micromanagement of production details creates barriers to entry, protecting incumbents through regulatory capture. Federal overreach into alcohol production violates Tenth Amendment federalism; states should regulate. Simplistic tax reporting would suffice without operational control.

Prohibits discrimination based on disability in federal agency programs, requiring accessibility, effective communication, reasonable accommodations, and complaint procedures for qualified handicapped persons.

Imposes costly compliance burdens on federal agencies that distort resource allocation and create bureaucratic overhead. The ADA already covers most of these requirements, making this redundant regulation an unnecessary tax on government operations that could be better spent on core services.

Prohibits age discrimination in federally funded programs, allowing certain age distinctions for normal operations or statutory objectives. Applies to HUD programs and includes enforcement mechanisms through complaints, mediation, and potential termination of funding.

Creates massive bureaucratic compliance costs for age-related distinctions in federally funded programs, distorts market incentives by federalizing what should be state/local decisions, and enables regulatory capture through complex enforcement mechanisms. The $2 trillion annual regulatory compliance burden makes this an inefficient solution to age discrimination compared to market-based alternatives.

HUD regulation requiring insertion of missing children information in government mail and office bulletin boards, with removal procedures when children are recovered and reporting requirements to OJJDP.

Prevents child exploitation and aids recovery of missing children through government infrastructure, achieving a public safety goal that would be difficult to replicate through voluntary market mechanisms.

This regulation implements 23 U.S.C. 158, establishing the National Minimum Drinking Age by requiring states to prohibit alcohol purchase/possession by those under 21 or face loss of 10% of federal highway funds. It defines key terms (alcoholic beverage, public possession, purchase) and outlines the enforcement mechanism through NHTSA and FHWA review of state compliance.

This regulation represents unconstitutional federal overreach using highway funds as leverage to coerce states on a matter of local police power. Drinking age policy belongs to states under the Tenth Amendment, not federal bureaucrats. The regulation distorts state autonomy, creates unfunded mandates, and exemplifies how federal funding is used to circumvent constitutional limits on federal authority.

Requires states to annually certify to the FHWA that they obtain proof of payment of the Federal Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) as a condition of registering heavy trucks, or face up to 8% reduction in federal highway apportionment.

Federal commandeering of state vehicle registration systems via spending coercion violates Tenth Amendment federalism. Creates costly state bureaucracy to enforce a federal tax that could be collected directly by IRS; threat of withheld highway funds blackmails states into implementing federal policy. Unseen costs: 50 separate certification regimes, annual paperwork burden, distorted state incentives, and erosion of state sovereignty over traditional police powers.

Implements Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act for federal executive agencies, prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all programs and activities. Requires accessibility, effective communication, auxiliary aids, and sets forth complaint procedures, with exemptions for undue burden or fundamental alteration.

Deletion would permit federal agencies to discriminate against citizens with disabilities, denying equal access to government services and undermining the principle that government must serve all Americans equally. The regulation's flexible requirements balance accessibility with practical constraints, making it a necessary and proportionate constraint on federal power.

Regulation implements Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act for Executive agencies, prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all programs and activities. It defines 'qualified handicapped person,' requires accessibility of facilities, effective communication, and establishes complaint procedures with exceptions for 'undue burden' and 'fundamental alteration.'

Deleting this would allow federal agencies to discriminate against disabled Americans, denying them equal access to government services they fund as taxpayers. The regulation enforces the constitutional principle of equal protection in federal programs, and its mechanisms—while costly—are necessary to achieve this outcome given agency incentives to prioritize cost over inclusion.

This regulation implements a governmentwide debarment and suspension system for the Inter-American Foundation's nonprocurement transactions. It establishes the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS), defines exclusion/disqualification procedures, imposes duties on participants and officials to check the EPLS before entering covered transactions, provides for reciprocal exclusion across federal programs, and sets rules for suspension (based on indictment) and debarment (based on conviction or other evidence).

The regulation creates a powerful administrative blacklist that allows exclusion based merely on indictment (not conviction), imputes conduct broadly to punish entire organizations for individuals' actions, and imposes governmentwide bans from all federal programs for a single agency's decision. This violates due process, enables regulatory abuse, imposes compliance burdens disproportionately on small businesses, and creates a chilling effect on economic participation. The benefit of preventing fraud can be achieved through criminal law and contract remedies without suspending livelihoods based on suspicion.

This regulation implements Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all programs and activities conducted by federal executive agencies. It defines key terms (handicapped person, qualified handicapped person, auxiliary aids), requires self-evaluations, ensures program accessibility, mandates effective communication, and establishes complaint/appeal procedures. It also incorporates Architectural Barriers Act standards for facility construction and alteration, with exceptions for undue burden or fundamental alteration.

This regulation constrains federal agencies from discriminating against citizens with disabilities, upholding equal protection under the law—a core founding principle. Deleting it would permit government to exclude disabled individuals from vital programs and services, creating a two-tiered citizenship. The clear, enforceable standards ensure consistent access across agencies; a weaker approach would be ineffective and allow bureaucratic inertia to perpetuate exclusion.

Federal regulation implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, prohibiting disability discrimination in agency programs and requiring accessibility with reasonable accommodations, including facility access, auxiliary aids, and complaint procedures, with exceptions for undue burden and fundamental alteration.

Americans would be worse off without this regulation because people with disabilities would face barriers accessing federal programs and services they fund as taxpayers, undermining equal citizenship. The regulation ensures government treats all citizens equally in its direct operations—a legitimate constraint on federal power that doesn't regulate private actors. The built-in flexibility for undue burdens and fundamental alterations prevents excessive costs, while the specific complaint mechanism provides enforceable rights that would be difficult to replicate through voluntary policies or piecemeal litigation.

This regulation implements Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act for federal agencies, prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all agency programs, services, employment, and facilities. It defines key terms (handicapped person, qualified handicapped person, auxiliary aids), requires self-evaluations and policy modifications, mandates program accessibility, effective communication (including TDDs and auxiliary aids), accessible new construction/alterations, and establishes detailed complaint procedures with internal appeals and oversight by the Assistant Attorney General.

The regulation imposes substantial hidden compliance costs on federal agencies (taxpayer-funded) through mandatory self-evaluations, facility modifications, auxiliary aids provisions, and extensive administrative procedures. Unseen effects include diversion of agency resources from core missions to bureaucracy, legal uncertainty from vague standards like 'undue burden' and 'most integrated setting,' and expansion of administrative discretion. These costs outweigh benefits; anti-discrimination goals could be achieved more efficiently through constitutional equal protection enforced by courts on a case-by-case basis, avoiding this prescriptive regime's bureaucratic overhead and unintended distortions.

Implements Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act for federal agencies, prohibiting disability discrimination in all programs and activities. Requires accessibility, auxiliary aids, facility modifications (with exceptions for undue burden or fundamental alteration), mandates self-evaluations and transition plans, and establishes a detailed complaint process.

The regulation imposes substantial compliance costs on federal agencies through burdensome administrative requirements—self-evaluations, transition plans, and rigid complaint procedures—that duplicate statutory protections and create unnecessary bureaucracy. Its prescriptive standards limit agency discretion and encourage litigation rather than practical, cost-effective solutions. The underlying statute already guarantees non-discrimination and provides a private right of action, rendering these detailed regulations redundant while increasing taxpayer burdens without improving outcomes for disabled citizens.

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a federally-funded nonprofit corporation that provides grants to private organizations worldwide to promote democratic institutions, political processes, civil society, and democratic education. It operates through a bipartisan board and distributes appropriated funds to 'core grantees' including institutions representing business, labor, and major political parties, as well as other NGOs abroad.

Taxpayer-funded foreign democracy promotion is not a legitimate core function of limited government. It distorts local political movements, creates dependency, and imposes political judgments that should be left to private philanthropy. The unseen costs include entangling alliances, blowback from perceived U.S. interference, and corruption of both foreign and domestic civil society. Private foundations and voluntary associations can fund these activities without state coercion, consistent with free enterprise and constitutional restraint on federal power.