Browse regulations

Regulation mandates administrative requirements for state Medicaid agencies, including single agency designation, electronic record-keeping, public access to policies, Beneficiary Advisory Council with escalating quotas (10% to 25% by 2027), and extensive reporting/oversight duties.

Imposes substantial unfunded mandates forcing states to divert healthcare resources into bureaucratic compliance. The escalating BAC quota requirement alone creates costly administrative structures with rigid procedural requirements unrelated to patient outcomes. These federal dictates violate Tenth Amendment federalism principles, stifle state innovation, and represent the hidden $14,000-per-household regulatory burden that distorts investment in actual care delivery.

Comprehensive federal regulations governing sterilization procedures in federally funded health programs, including consent requirements, restrictions on mentally incompetent individuals, abortion funding limitations, and dispute resolution procedures for grant programs

These regulations represent federal overreach into medical procedures that should be governed by state law and individual choice. The extensive consent requirements, funding restrictions, and bureaucratic oversight create unnecessary barriers to healthcare while imposing massive compliance costs on medical providers. The federal government has no constitutional authority to dictate specific medical consent procedures or restrict abortion funding based on political preferences rather than medical necessity.

Mandates that coal mine operators provide free chest radiographs to detect pneumoconiosis, with detailed technical specifications for equipment, facilities, and interpretation by NIOSH-certified B Readers. Covers both voluntary screening for experienced miners and mandatory screening for new hires, requiring operator-developed plans subject to NIOSH approval and incorporating numerous external technical standards.

Federal mandate imposes massive compliance costs, centralizes technical knowledge beyond regulator competence, and violates Tenth Amendment federalism. Early detection could be achieved more efficiently through state regulation, tort liability, or market arrangements without federal coercion. Rigid specifications stifle innovation and disproportionately burden small mining operations.

This regulation implements Executive Order 11246, requiring federal contractors and federally-assisted construction contractors to implement non-discrimination and affirmative action policies based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and national origin in all employment practices. It mandates contract clauses, record-keeping, reporting, and allows government audits and sanctions including debarment for non-compliance.

Federal regulatory compliance costs exceed $2 trillion annually, and this regulation forces private employers to implement government-mandated affirmative action policies as a condition of contracting. It micromanages employment decisions, imposes significant compliance burdens that disproportionately harm small businesses, and represents an unconstitutional expansion of executive power into private commerce. The affirmative action mandate creates discriminatory reverse discrimination while the reporting and audit requirements create a regime of bureaucratic surveillance. The regulation's unseen costs include distorted hiring decisions based on compliance rather than merit, chilling effects on legitimate business judgments, and barriers to entry that protect established contractors from competition.

Comprehensive regulation governing the manufacture, processing, distribution, use, and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), including concentration limits, testing requirements, and exemptions for excluded manufacturing processes and products containing inadvertent PCB impurities below 50 ppm.

The regulation imposes massive compliance costs exceeding $2 trillion annually while addressing chemicals that have been banned since 1979. The complex testing requirements, concentration thresholds, and exemptions create regulatory uncertainty that disproportionately burdens small businesses. The extensive documentation and reporting requirements represent a significant administrative burden with questionable environmental benefits given modern alternatives and the fact that PCBs have been effectively eliminated from commerce.

PCB exemption petition procedures under TSCA Section 6(e)(3)(B) - allows manufacturers to request exemptions from PCB manufacturing bans by demonstrating no unreasonable risk and lack of substitutes, with detailed filing requirements and renewal processes

Creates costly bureaucratic burden on small businesses while providing minimal public benefit - the $2 trillion compliance costs are disproportionate to the actual health risks managed, and market forces plus tort liability would better handle PCB safety than this regulatory labyrinth

EPA effluent guideline for carbon black manufacturing (furnace, thermal, channel, lamp processes) imposes a zero-discharge requirement for process wastewater pollutants to navigable waters and sets pretreatment standards for POTW discharges.

The rigid zero-discharge mandate drives up compliance costs, favors incumbents, hinders new entrants, and risks offshoring production with potentially weaker environmental Controls. Clean water objectives can be achieved more efficiently through flexible, water-quality-based standards or state-tailored regulation, avoiding unnecessary economic distortion and regulatory capture.

This regulation establishes definitions and effluent limitations for pesticide manufacturing and formulating facilities, covering organic and metallo-organic pesticide active ingredients, wastewater treatment standards, and pollution prevention alternatives under the Clean Water Act.

Creates massive regulatory burden on pesticide industry with complex compliance requirements, zero-discharge mandates, and extensive paperwork that raises costs for farmers and consumers while providing minimal environmental benefit compared to market-driven solutions.

These rules govern administrative proceedings for remedial orders under the Noise Control Act of 1972, establishing procedures for complaints, hearings, settlements, and appeals regarding noise violations.

This is a highly specialized administrative framework for noise regulation that adds regulatory complexity without clear constitutional authority. The EPA's noise control authority represents federal overreach into local matters that states and municipalities should handle directly. The elaborate procedural rules create compliance burdens and bureaucratic overhead while the underlying noise regulation itself is better managed at local levels where communities can set appropriate standards.

This regulation establishes the framework for EPA approval/disapproval of state plans for controlling air pollutants under Clean Air Act sections 111(d) and 129, including procedures for plan submission, approval, enforcement, and EPA promulgation of substitute plans when states fail to submit adequate plans.

This regulation represents federal overreach into state environmental management, creating a one-size-fits-all federal framework that undermines state sovereignty and imposes unnecessary compliance costs on businesses. States can effectively manage air quality through their own environmental agencies without federal micromanagement, and the Clean Air Act's core standards would still apply through other provisions.

The regulation establishes USPS policy to own and manage its intellectual property (excluding patents) through the Office of Licensing, with goals of promoting economic well-being, minimizing use restrictions, ensuring fair treatment, and considering other factors. It details a licensing process requiring formal requests, review, approval, and potential fee agreements, all subject to legal review and published in the Federal Register.

This regulation creates unnecessary federal bureaucracy to manage USPS trademarks and copyrights, imposing compliance costs and barriers on citizens and businesses seeking to use public-domain-like materials. It elevates routine asset management to the Federal Register, expanding bureaucratic power without a compelling public necessity. The unseen cost is the chilling effect on free expression and commerce, as users navigate a licensing regime for symbols that should be broadly available.

This regulation implements the Privacy Act for the U.S. Copyright Office, establishing procedures for individuals to discover, access, correct, and appeal records about themselves maintained by the Office. It defines key terms, notes that certain records are publicly available, sets requirements for written requests, outlines fee schedules, and provides administrative and judicial review processes.

Americans would be worse off without these procedures because they'd have no clear, guaranteed mechanism to access or correct their personal information held by a federal agency, undermining transparency and individual autonomy. The regulation implements statutory Privacy Act rights in a structured way; repeal would create uncertainty, administrative barriers, and potentially violate the Act's intent. The minimal administrative costs are justified by the essential liberty-protecting function of ensuring government records remain accountable to the individuals they describe.

Establishes procedures for Copyright Office compliance with FOIA, covering request submission, fee structures based on requester type (commercial, educational, other), processing timelines, interagency consultation, appeals to the Register of Copyrights, and expedited processing criteria for urgent matters.

Deletion would remove the clear, consistent framework ensuring equitable public access to Copyright Office records, undermining transparency and accountability of this key intellectual property regulator. The regulation provides essential procedural safeguards that would be difficult to replicate ad hoc, preventing arbitrary withholding of information about how copyright law is administered.

Ethics and conduct regulations for Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation employees and special government employees, establishing standards of integrity, conflict of interest rules, financial disclosure requirements, and disciplinary procedures to prevent improper influence in government operations.

Redundant federal bureaucracy that duplicates existing Civil Service Commission regulations, imposes excessive compliance costs on a small agency, and creates unnecessary administrative overhead without meaningful public benefit. The Corporation was dissolved in 1996, making these regulations obsolete.

This Army Corps of Engineers regulation ESTABLISHES PROCEDURES FOR THE CORPS TO INVESTIGATE AND REPORT ON FERC HYDROELECTRIC LICENSING APPLICATIONS, FOCUSING ON IMPACTS TO NAVIGATION, FLOOD CONTROL, AND OTHER CORPS RESPONSIBILITIES. IT DEFINES PROCESSES FOR REVIEWING LICENSE APPLICATIONS, RELICENSING, SURRENDER/TERMINATION, AND PROJECT SUPERVISION, WITH CORPS DIVISION ENGINEERS SUBMITTING REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO FERC THROUGH HEADQUARTERS.

IMPOSES SIGNIFICANT COMPLIANCE COSTS AND DELAYS ON ENERGY PROJECT DEVELOPMENT, PARTICULARLY HARMING SMALL BUSINESSES. CREATES UNNECESSARY BUREAUCRATIC LAYERING THAT COULD BE ACHIEVED THROUGH DIRECT INTERAGENCY CONSULTATION. INSTITUTIONALIZES CORPS INFLUENCE BEYOND STATUTORY AUTHORITY, ENABLING REGULATORY CAPTURE AND MISSION CREEP WHILE BURDENING THE ECONOMY WITH OVER $14,000 PER HOUSEHOLD IN HIDDEN REGULATORY COSTS.