Browse regulations

Requires OMB employees to obtain written approval before any outside employment or business relationship, including teaching, speaking, consulting, or writing, through a multi-layered review process.

Prior approval regime imposes significant compliance burdens on employee autonomy and talent recruitment, covering even benign activities. Disclosure and post-employment restrictions can prevent actual conflicts without stifling outside professional engagement, making this overbroad restriction unnecessary.

Requires Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board employees to obtain written approval before engaging in outside employment or business activities, with additional approval needed for teaching, speaking, or writing related to official duties. The rule supplements existing executive branch ethics standards and aims to prevent conflicts of interest.

The FRTIB manages over $900 billion in federal employee retirement assets. Outside employment by investment professionals managing these funds creates inherent conflicts of interest—an employee working for an investment firm could steer TSP business toward that firm. The approval requirement is a minimal burden compared to the catastrophic risk of breaching fiduciary duty. Eliminating this would undermine public trust and expose the retirement savings of 6 million federal employees to potential abuse. The regulation is narrow, targeted, and addresses a legitimate market failure where private gain could misalign with public duty.

Ethics regulations for Department of Education employees governing outside activities to prevent conflicts of interest with federal duties

These regulations prevent federal employees from using their position to benefit private interests, protecting taxpayers from conflicts of interest and ensuring public servants serve the public rather than personal enrichment opportunities.

Requires FTC employees (except Commissioners) to obtain written approval from supervisor and Designated Agency Ethics Official before any outside employment. Approval requires certifications that work won't use government resources/information or violate ethics laws, and that it's not prohibited conduct. Excludes most nonprofit activities unless involving professional services or compensation, with limited allowance for fundraising from regulated entities.

Deleting this would allow FTC employees to take outside jobs with regulated businesses or misuse government resources, creating severe conflicts of interest. Americans would face corrupted enforcement of antitrust and consumer protection laws, harming competition and consumers. The prior-approval system with mandated certifications uniquely prevents these harms before they occur, which post-hoc disciplinary actions cannot fully address.

DFC employees must obtain prior approval from the Designated Agency Ethics Official for outside employment using the definition in § 2635.603(a) to prevent conflicts of interest.

Americans would be worse off without this rule as it prevents corruption and conflicts of interest that would undermine public trust and lead to decisions favoring private interests over the public good. The pre-approval system efficiently screens potential conflicts before they arise, a cost-effective approach that would be difficult to replicate with reactive enforcement alone.

Authorizes OPM to pay claims up to $15,000 for federal employees' damaged/lost personal property incident to service, with extensive eligibility rules, exclusions, documentation requirements, and valuation limits.

Government compensation for personal property losses duplicates private insurance, creates moral hazard, and imposes administrative costs; individuals should bear their own risks and obtain coverage voluntarily, consistent with limited government and free enterprise principles.

This regulation establishes accounting standards for railroad carriers subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, defining financial reporting requirements, cost center tracking, and classification of carriers based on revenue. It covers asset valuation, income taxes, extraordinary items, and provides detailed definitions for terms like abandonment, affiliated companies, and cost of renewal.

Federal regulation of railroad accounting creates massive compliance costs ($2+ trillion industry-wide) while providing no clear public benefit. Private companies can develop their own accounting standards or adopt voluntary industry standards. This intrudes on interstate commerce beyond constitutional limits and protects incumbent railroads from competition by raising barriers for new entrants.

Procedures implementing the Government in the Sunshine Act for Surface Transportation Board meetings, including notice, public access, closed-session exemptions, and record-keeping.

Americans would be worse off without guaranteed transparency into STB decisions, enabling regulatory capture and arbitrary rulemaking. This regulation hardwires Sunshine Act protections into predictable, enforceable procedures that voluntary compliance could not reliably sustain.

This regulation establishes coordination procedures between the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board for investigating marine casualties, defining jurisdiction thresholds, investigation responsibilities, and record-sharing protocols to avoid duplication of efforts.

Deletion would risk either duplicated investigations (wasting taxpayer resources) or gaps in safety oversight, compromising the ability to learn from marine casualties. This regulation achieves efficient, non-duplicative investigations through clear, binding rules that would be difficult to replicate via informal agreements lacking enforceability and specificity.

This regulation implements the Government in the Sunshine Act for the National Transportation Safety Board, establishing procedures for public access to Board meetings while allowing limited closures for specific exemptive reasons such as national security, trade secrets, personal privacy, and law enforcement matters. It requires advance public notice, recorded votes for closures, and maintenance of transcripts or minutes for all meetings.

Public transparency in government decision-making is essential for democratic accountability. This regulation ensures citizens can observe how safety regulations and investigations are conducted while providing reasonable exemptions for sensitive matters. Without it, Board deliberations could occur entirely behind closed doors, undermining public trust in transportation safety oversight.

Federal bumper standard requiring passenger vehicles to meet specific damage resistance criteria in low-speed (1.5-2.5 mph) front and rear collisions, with detailed pendulum and barrier test procedures.

The regulation imposes substantial hidden costs on manufacturers and consumers, stifles design innovation, and creates disproportionate barriers for small producers; the marginal benefit of reduced cosmetic damage in minor collisions does not justify these unseen economic distortions, as insurance markets and consumer preferences already incentivize adequate bumper durability.

This regulation establishes procedures for manufacturers to petition NHTSA for exemption from safety recall requirements when defects are deemed inconsequential to motor vehicle safety. It includes petition requirements, public notice, comment periods, meeting protocols, and appeal mechanisms.

Americans would be worse off if deleted because this exemption process prevents wasteful mandatory recalls for trivial issues that pose no actual safety risk, protecting consumers from higher vehicle prices and ensuring resources focus on genuine hazards. The procedural safeguards and public participation ensure the process is transparent and not subject to arbitrary agency overreach.

This regulation establishes a framework for determining which manufacturer is responsible for fuel economy compliance in multistage automobile manufacturing, requiring documentation and fuel economy labeling to track fuel efficiency across manufacturing stages.

This regulation creates unnecessary compliance costs and bureaucratic complexity for a market where fuel economy information is already readily available to consumers through private certification and voluntary disclosure, while imposing disproportionate burdens on small manufacturers and distorting the multistage manufacturing process.

Provides procedures for low-volume passenger automobile manufacturers (producing <10,000 vehicles annually) to petition NHTSA for exemption from corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards and establish alternative standards. Requires extensive documentation of production projections, vehicle specifications, fuel economy calculations, and technological feasibility analysis. Exemptions limited to three model years and renewable.

Perpetuates the unconstitutional CAFE framework while adding a burdensome, subjective exemption process. The extensive documentation requirements impose disproportionate compliance costs on the very small manufacturers it claims to help. Central planning of 'maximum feasible' fuel economy is impossible; only free markets can determine optimal product mixes. The process creates regulatory uncertainty, invites capture, and diverts scarce entrepreneurial resources from production to bureaucracy, stifling innovation and competition.

Regulation requires rear-end marking devices (lights/reflectors) on trains operating on main tracks to enhance visibility and prevent collisions, specifying intensity, color, beam width, flash rate, and approval procedures.

Deleting it would increase risk of rear-end train collisions, causing deaths, injuries, and economic disruption. The uniform federal standard is essential due to interstate rail operations, and the technical specification effectively ensures safety with minimal compliance burden; a patchwork of state or private standards would be less reliable and potentially more costly.