Browse regulations

This regulation establishes the Marine Mammal Commission's procedures for handling classified national security information, including declassification requests, derivative classification, document storage, reproduction, and employee education, in accordance with Executive Order 12356.

The regulation is obsolete, referencing revoked Executive Order 12356 instead of the current EO 13526. Keeping it risks improper handling of classified information, wastes resources maintaining outdated procedures, and creates confusion.

This regulation implements the Capital Construction Fund (CCF) program, a tax-deferred savings vehicle allowing U.S. commercial fishing vessel owners to set aside funds for vessel acquisition, construction, or reconstruction. It defines eligibility criteria (U.S. citizen ownership, vessel construction requirements), application procedures, permitted uses of funds, reporting obligations, and restrictions—including limitations on increasing harvesting capacity except in limited access fisheries. The Secretary of Commerce has significant discretionary authority over approvals, withdrawals, and enforcement.

This is a targeted industrial subsidy that distorts fishing markets, creates barriers to entry for new fishermen, and expands federal bureaucratic control over vessel financing. The program costs taxpayers through foregone revenue while advantages established operators who can navigate complex rules. Fisheries management belongs to states under the Tenth Amendment, and vessel investment decisions should be left to market forces without government subsidization and discretionary approval authority.

Procedural rules for challenging rail rates before the Surface Transportation Board, including pre-filing notice requirements, detailed complaint specifications, discovery protocols, and rigid timelines for stand-alone cost and simplified standards cases.

This regulation imposes crushing compliance costs and procedural barriers that protect railroad monopolies by preventing small shippers from challenging rates. The 70-day pre-notice, complex documentation requirements, 485-day litigation timeline, and mandatory disclosures create an insurmountable burden for small businesses while favoring large corporations with in-house legal teams. The regime represents federal overreach into private pricing, distorts market incentives, wastes resources on regulatory compliance instead of productive activity, and entrenches regulatory capture by the very industry it supposedly regulates. The unseen costs—reduced competition, higher barriers to entry, and distorted market signals—far exceed any benefits from rate regulation, which itself causes the economic harm it claims to prevent.

These regulations establish procedures for NTSB transportation accident investigations across aviation, highway, railroad, pipeline, hazardous materials, and marine modes. They define jurisdiction, investigative authority (including subpoena power), party participation rules for industry stakeholders, coordination with other agencies, and information handling protocols (including trade secret protections). The rules govern the internal operations of the NTSB's fact-finding investigations.

While the party system creates regulatory capture risks by allowing investigated industries to participate, accident investigation is a legitimate core government function that private actors cannot adequately perform. The NTSB's independence from enforcement agencies, subpoena power for comprehensive evidence gathering, and production of public safety reports generate substantial spillover benefits that justify minimal compliance costs. Eliminating this would leave accident causation uninvestigated by an objective entity, forfeiting safety improvements that save lives.

The NTSB FOIA regulation establishes procedures for public requests for agency records, including submission requirements, fee structures for search/duplication/review, exemptions from disclosure, response timelines, and appeal mechanisms. It promotes transparency by making accident investigation dockets publicly available online and requires partial disclosure when possible.

Americans would be worse off without this regulation because it provides the essential procedural framework enabling citizens, journalists, and researchers to access information about transportation accidents and NTSB investigations. This transparency is crucial for public accountability and safety oversight. Deleting it would leave FOIA requests handled arbitrarily without standardized procedures, likely increasing delays and reducing public access. The regulation achieves its transparency goals through clear processes that would be difficult to replicate without formal rules, and its administrative costs are negligible compared to the $14,000 annual regulatory burden on households.

This part contains the procedures that Amtrak follows to process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. It outlines how to submit requests, fee structures, search and processing timelines, appeal processes, handling of business information, and criteria for granting or denying requests with applicable exemptions. These are internal administrative procedures for complying with the federal FOIA statute.

FOIA is a fundamental transparency law that allows citizens to hold government accountable. These procedures merely implement that statutory requirement for a specific government corporation. Repealing them would not reduce the size or scope of government—it would simply make Amtrak non-compliant with Congress's transparency mandate. The modest administrative costs are necessary to effectuate the public's right to know what their government is doing. Without such procedures, government operations would become more opaque, not less burdensome.

Establishes a pilot program allowing competitive bids from non-Amtrak entities (rail carriers, states, joint powers authorities) to operate up to three long-distance Amtrak routes. Sets petition/bid requirements, evaluation process, 4-year contracts (renewable once), operating subsidies (up to 90% of Amtrak's prior costs adjusted for inflation), access mandates to Amtrak facilities, and hiring preferences for displaced Amtrak employees.

The regulation expands federal overreach into transportation (Tenth Amendment violation), adds regulatory complexity and compliance costs, and uses taxpayer subsidies for a managed 'competition' that includes distortionary mandates (hired preferences, forced access) rather than free markets. Its tiny scope (3 routes) provides negligible benefit while creating precedents for government-controlled competition and perpetuating federal involvement in what should be state/private matters.

The Common Rule establishes federal policy for protecting human subjects in research conducted, supported, or regulated by federal agencies. It requires Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to review and approve research, defines key terms (human subject, research, minimal risk), provides exemption categories for low-risk research, outlines informed consent requirements, and includes detailed transition provisions from the 2016 to 2018 version. The regulation operates under the ethical principles of the Belmont Report and allows for waiver mechanisms but maintains baseline protections.

Americans would be worse off without this regulation because it provides essential, standardized protections against exploitation and harm in federally-connected research. Without it, we risk a return to the egregious human experimentation abuses that prompted the Belmont Report. The regulation ensures informed consent, independent ethical review, and special safeguards for vulnerable populations—fundamental protections that prevent real physical and psychological harm. While compliance imposes administrative costs on institutions, these are justified by the preservation of human dignity and public trust in scientific research, which would collapse without enforceable ethical standards.

EPA regulation mandating specific contract clauses when contractors access confidential business information obtained under environmental statutes like FIFRA, TSCA, Clean Air Act, etc. Requires contracting officers to insert various clauses related to CBI treatment, data security, and dual-use research oversight based on contract circumstances.

Creates unnecessary regulatory complexity and compliance burden without justification beyond standard contract law. Imposes hidden costs through administrative overhead for EPA and contractors, disproportionately disadvantages small businesses, and represents federal overreach into private contractual arrangements that could be efficiently negotiated through market mechanisms. The regulation's intricate clause matrix benefits large incumbent contractors who can absorb compliance costs while raising barriers to entry.

EPA regulation establishing mandatory small business procurement goals, appointing Small Business Specialists, and requiring set-asides for construction contracts to promote small and disadvantaged business participation in federal contracting.

This regulation distorts market competition by mandating preferences based on business size rather than merit, increasing procurement costs, creating regulatory capture where small businesses lobby for protections, and diverting resources from efficient allocation. The unseen consequence is reduced quality and higher prices for taxpayers while protecting inefficient firms from competitive discipline—precisely the unintended harms Mises, Hayek, and Friedman warned of. The program also imposes significant bureaucratic overhead with SBS appointments, reporting requirements, and coordination with SBA, representing a hidden tax on American households.

Regulation establishes annual NTIA review process for FirstNet's user fees, requiring fees to be sufficient but not exceed expenses needed for FirstNet's operations as the nationwide public safety broadband network. Creates detailed timelines for proposal, review, approval/disapproval, and revision cycles.

The regulation entrenches a federal monopoly over first responder communications by enabling fee-setting with only superficial oversight. NTIA must defer to FirstNet on reserve funds, eliminating meaningful cost control. Administrative overhead of annual review diverts resources from network maintenance while creating false accountability. States and localities should contract for emergency communications in competitive markets rather than fund a federal entity shielded from price competition.

This regulation (47 CFR Part 95) establishes comprehensive rules governing Personal Radio Services (CB, FRS, GMRS, etc.) under FCC authority. It includes technical standards for transmitters, certification requirements, operator licensing rules (mostly license-free), geographic operating restrictions, interference management protocols, equipment modification prohibitions, and detailed definitions. The rules cover thousands of amateur, consumer, and business radio devices used by millions of Americans for personal communications, recreation, and business operations.

This regulation represents massive regulatory overreach into private communications. It imposes federal certification mandates on $50 radio devices, creating barriers to innovation and consumer choice. The FCC claims authority over radio waves it never properly owned under the Constitution's Property Clause, effectively nationalizing a scarce resource that should be privately allocated. The 185,000+ page CFR includes pages like this that criminalize otherwise innocent conduct—operating an unapproved radio or using a 'false' tone. These rules protect incumbent manufacturers from competition through licensing barriers and create technical lock-in. The interference regime has chilling effects: operators must 'cooperate' or face FCC enforcement. The agency maintains a massive enforcement apparatus funded by taxpayers to police hobbyists and truckers. This is the regulatory state at its most absurd—Jefferson rolling in his grave as bureaucrats dictate how Americans may or may not modulate radio waves. These services operate harmlessly without any demonstrated market failure warranting federal intervention. The supposed 'scarcity' justification is obsolete given digital technologies and frequency agility. States could handle interference disputes via tort law. The entire regime exemplifies the foxes designing the henhouse—established equipment manufacturers influence FCC committees to write rules that cement their market position.

This FCC regulation mandates that telecommunications carriers and device manufacturers implement Real-Time Text (RTT) communication capabilities using the specific RFC 4103 technical standard, and ensure interoperability with both RTT services and legacy TTY devices for people with hearing/speech disabilities. It requires covered services to support RTT on the same phone numbers as voice calls, provide 911 access, and enable simultaneous text/voice.

This federal mandate imposes significant compliance costs on telecommunications providers and device manufacturers, artificially selects a specific technical standard (RFC 4103) over market-driven alternatives, and usurps what should be state and private sector decisions about accessibility. The mandated interoperability requirements create barriers to entry for smaller firms, stifle innovation in communication technologies, and represent another expansion of federal power into what are fundamentally state and local matters. The hidden tax burden of $14,000 per household includes costs like these regulations that ultimately get passed to consumers. Americans would be better served by voluntary standards, state-level policies, or market solutions that emerge to meet genuine demand without regulatory coercion.

This regulation establishes the America's Marine Highway Program (AMHP), a federal initiative that designates coastal and inland water routes as 'Marine Highways' and approves specific 'Marine Highway Projects' to promote short sea transportation as an alternative to truck and rail freight. It defines application procedures, eligibility requirements for public entities (states, MPOs, port authorities), evaluation criteria emphasizing congestion relief and public benefits (emissions reduction, safety, resiliency), and grant administration processes. The program provides federal coordination, promotion, and potential funding support for designated projects using U.S.-documented vessels.

This program embodies central planning of transportation infrastructure, creating unnecessary federal bureaucracy that duplicates market functions. It imposes costly application and reporting burdens on state and local governments while distorting investment decisions through political favoritism and regulatory capture. The compliance costs and administrative overhead outweigh speculative benefits; private shippers and investors would develop viable marine routes organically if market demand existed. Federal involvement violates Tenth Amendment principles by federalizing local transportation decisions and Crowds out more efficient private solutions through artificial subsidies and designations.

Regulation establishes procurement, property management, and disposal requirements for Legal Services Corporation grantees using federal funds, including prior approval for purchases over $25,000, written procurement policies, conflict of interest rules, and comprehensive documentation and maintenance standards.

Imposes substantial compliance costs and bureaucratic delays on legal aid nonprofits, diverting scarce resources from serving low-income clients. The prior-approval regime creates a hidden tax on organizations meant to expand access to justice, with marginal benefits that could be achieved through simpler audit-based oversight rather than blanket pre-approval requirements.