Browse regulations

This subchapter establishes rules, procedures, and definitions for public access to archival records and donated historical materials in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Americans would be worse off without a consistent, transparent framework for accessing irreplaceable historical records; ad hoc arrangements would risk damage to materials, unequal treatment of researchers, and reduced accountability. The regulation achieves a necessary balance between preservation and public access, a balance that would be hard to replicate reliably without codified procedures.

Procedural regulation limiting the printed publication of National Film Registry selections to only the current year's list, directing the public to an online URL for the complete registry.

This purely administrative rule serves no legitimate regulatory purpose and imposes compliance costs for printing requirements that can be better met through digital publication. It represents the type of micro-regulation that contributes to the 185,000-page CFR burden without protecting public health, safety, or welfare. The online alternative is superior in every way—more accessible, instantly updatable, and virtually cost-free. Deleting this would reduce bureaucracy without any negative consequence to Americans.

This regulation states that the Smithsonian Institution and its component museums/centers are subject to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and provides contact information for filing claims against them.

This listing is redundant and contributes to regulatory bloat without any compensating benefit. FTCA coverage flows from statute and the entities' status as federal instrumentalities, not from CFR enumeration. Clause (a)-(d) merely provides contact information better housed on the institutions' own websites, not buried in 185,000 pages of federal regulations. The administrative cost of maintaining this listing, while small, exemplifies the type of minutiae that makes the Code of Federal Regulations incomprehensible to ordinary citizens and violates the rule of law principle that laws must be knowable. There is no evidence that deletion would harm anyone, as claimants can readily obtain current contact details from the Smithsonian directly.

This regulation applies executive branch-wide standards of ethical conduct (5 CFR 2635), financial disclosure (5 CFR 2634), and employee responsibilities (5 CFR 735) to employees of the American Battle Monuments Commission, which maintains U.S. military cemeteries and memorials overseas.

Imposes disproportionate compliance costs on a small, non-regulatory agency performing a straightforward memorial function. The commission's very existence stretches constitutional federalism limits (Tenth Amendment), as cemetery maintenance is a local/state/private matter. Ethics rules create hidden tax burdens (~$14,000/household equivalent) for minimal public benefit, while raising barriers to entry for patriotic citizens seeking to serve. The regulation itself is redundant; any legitimate ethics concerns could be addressed through tailored, minimal rules.

Applies nondiscrimination requirements to water resource project lands managed by the Army and to lessees/concessionaires operating on those lands. Prohibits discrimination based on race, creed, color, or national origin in public access and services.

Worse off if deleted: Federally owned lands would be susceptible to discriminatory exclusion, undermining equal protection and public trust. Achieves outcome through clear, enforceable rules that state/local laws may not uniformly cover and that market forces alone cannot guarantee. Compliance costs minimal compared to social harm prevented.

Regulation governs the use of Woodsy Owl, a Forest Service environmental mascot, establishing procedures for noncommercial educational use and commercial licensing by the Chief, including exclusive licenses with various conditions and fees. It grants the Chief broad discretion to approve, deny, or revoke any use based on subjective judgments about consistency with campaign goals, decency, and public benefit.

This regulation creates an unnecessary bureaucratic licensing scheme for a government mascot, imposing compliance costs on private actors seeking to promote environmental messages. It grants the Chief unchecked discretion to control speech, favor certain licensees via exclusive deals, and revoke approvals arbitrarily—classic regulatory capture with no offsetting public benefit that couldn't be achieved through ordinary trademark administration. The administrative overhead and barriers to entry for small businesses violate free enterprise principles while doing nothing to advance core Forest Service missions of land management.

This regulation (36 CFR 296) establishes Forest Service procedures for paying rewards for information leading to convictions, purchasing evidence in investigations, impounding unauthorized livestock, dogs, and abandoned property on National Forest System lands, removing hazardous objects, and disposing of seized property through public sale. It includes minimal notice requirements (5 days for known owners, 72 hours for unknown) and allows the government to retain surplus sale proceeds while holding original owners liable for all costs.

This regulation imposes staggering hidden costs on small ranchers, recreational users, and taxpayers while violating core constitutional principles. The administrative apparatus required—impoundment facilities, notification systems, evidence storage, reward processing—diverts Forest Service resources from legitimate management. Small operators face disproportionate harm: 5-day notice before impoundment is insufficient due process, and the regime allows the government to profit from property sales while owners remain liable for costs—an unconstitutional taking without just compensation. The federalization of traditional state police powers (animal control, property disputes) violates Tenth Amendment federalism. Unseen consequences include chilling legitimate land use, incentivizing bureaucratic expansion through enforcement quotas, and undermining the property rights foundation of a free society. Private tort law handles these disputes far more efficiently and justly.

Regulation mandates Forest Service prepare timber management plans for national forests, requiring sustained yield, even flow to stabilize communities, allowable cutting rates, and potentially local processing mandates for timber purchasers.

This central planning regime distorts market signals, reduces timber supply, raises consumer costs, and creates barriers to entry through processing requirements. The unseen effects include misallocation of resources, regulatory capture benefiting local processors, and the knowledge problem: bureaucrats cannot efficiently determine optimal harvest rates or processing locations.

Establishes National Grasslands as part of the National Forest system under Department of Agriculture administration, requiring multiple-use management (conservation, forage, wildlife, timber, water, recreation) under the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act. Adopts National Forest regulations (36 CFR) and grants Forest Service authority to define boundaries and administrative units while preserving existing rights.

Federal control of grasslands violates constitutional federalism and Tenth Amendment principles; land-use regulation belongs to states and localities. The administrative framework imposes unnecessary regulatory complexity and compliance costs for internal agency management that could be handled through simpler procedures. States or private owners could manage grassland resources more efficiently with localized knowledge and market-based incentives, avoiding bureaucratic mission creep and the unseen economic distortions of centralized control.

Regulation governs Forest Service cooperation with state officials and private entities for fire prevention and suppression. It authorizes officers to accept state deputy appointments, enter into mutual benefit agreements with private landowners/industries, provides emergency fire assistance (reimbursable or non-reimbursable), sets procedures for accepting cooperator payments with bonding requirements over $25,000, and mandates conflict of interest avoidance following ethics statutes.

This regulation enables essential coordination for wildfire management across jurisdictions—a legitimate government function protecting lives, property, and resources. The reimbursement provisions and bonding requirements ensure fiscal responsibility, while formalized agreements improve emergency response efficiency. Deleting it would create legal uncertainty, hinder coordinated fire suppression (especially for escaped fires crossing boundaries), and potentially increase costs and risks during wildfires that exceed any marginal savings from reduced paperwork.

Regulation describes Forest Service organizational structure, FOIA procedures, and Land Status Records System. It is internal agency administration with no substantive requirements on the public.

Keeping this regulation adds to the 185,000-page CFR labyrinth, creating compliance costs for the agency itself (resources to maintain CFR updates) and perpetuating unnecessary federal bureaucracy. It represents federal overreach into internal agency matters that should be handled via agency directives, not binding regulations. This hidden complexity undermines the rule of law by burying simple administrative matters in the CFR, making it harder for citizens to understand what actually binds them. The information is readily available on the Forest Service website without CFR codification. Deleting it reduces regulatory bloat and returns authority to the agency to manage its own operations flexibly.

Regulation restricts commercial and noncommercial use of the National Park Service's Arrowhead and Parkscape symbols, permitting only uses that contribute to education and conservation as approved by the NPS Director; unauthorized use is criminalized under 18 U.S.C. § 701.

The regulation imposes a prior restraint on speech and commerce, centralizing discretionary power to permit or forbid use of a government symbol. It criminalizes symbolic expression that poses no harm, creates compliance uncertainty, and channels potentially beneficial educational and conservation uses through bureaucratic approval. The same interests—preventing fraud and protecting government insignia—can be achieved through targeted trademark law and existing false advertising statutes without criminalizing ordinary creative and commercial activity. The unseen cost is the chilling effect on private initiative that might support conservation in ways the Director cannot foresee, and the precedent of giving an agency gatekeeping power over public symbols.

The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) establishes a federal-state partnership providing grants to states for adult education programs targeting basic literacy, English language acquisition, secondary credential completion, and workforce readiness. States competitively award funds to eligible providers (local educational agencies, nonprofits, libraries, etc.) with requirements emphasizing evidence-based instruction, career pathways, integrated education and training, coordination with workforce systems, and performance accountability. The regulations implement extensive administrative controls, reporting requirements, and prescribed program structures under the broader Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act framework.

This federal intervention duplicates and crowds out private, local, and state-level adult education efforts that would organically emerge through voluntary association and market demand. The $2 trillion+ regulatory burden includes this program's administrative overhead—complex grant competitions, compliance reporting, performance metrics, and prescribed 'evidence-based' practices—which distorts incentives, raises costs, and stifles innovative grassroots solutions. The program incorrectly assumes federal planners can identify 'in-demand industries' and design 'career pathways' better than local communities and individuals. Moreover, the funding creates a dependency culture while taxing all Americans, including the very low-income individuals it aims to help, to pay for services that would be provided more efficiently through private charities, employer training, or local initiatives without bureaucratic middlemen. The unseen cost is the opportunity loss of private capital and civic energy diverted to navigate federal rules rather than creating genuine educational value.

This regulation (34 CFR Part 397) imposes extensive documentation, reporting, and service delivery requirements on state vocational rehabilitation agencies and local educational agencies related to youth and adults with disabilities employed at subminimum wages under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. It mandates specific documentation processes, requires career counseling and referral services at regular intervals, restricts contracts between educational agencies and subminimum wage employers, and authorizes review of employer documentation.

The regulation creates a burdensome federal administrative apparatus that diverts scarce resources from direct services to compliance paperwork, expands federal control over state and local disability programs, and likely reduces employment opportunities by making the 14(c) program less attractive to employers. The mandatory counseling services may undermine individual autonomy and informed choice. The compliance costs borne by state agencies and schools represent a hidden tax that could be better spent on actual job placement and support services. Federal imposition of such detailed administrative procedures violates principles of federalism and subsidiarity, centralizing decisions that should remain at state and local levels where programs can be tailored to individual needs without bureaucratic red tape.

Federal grant program providing financial assistance to public/private nonprofit agencies and higher education institutions to establish or support interpreter training programs for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind. Includes detailed application requirements, selection criteria emphasizing evidence-based practices, coordination with state agencies, and geographical distribution considerations. Grantees must provide matching funds.

This program represents unconstitutional federal overreach into a service that should be provided by states, localities, charities, or the free market. The $2 trillion+ hidden tax burden of federal regulations includes administrative overhead and distorted incentives that raise barriers to entry while crowding out private, localized solutions. Federal grantmaking creates dependency, enforces Washington-designed standards over local innovation, and violates the Tenth Amendment's reservation of such matters to the states. The unseen costs—bureaucratic compliance, market distortions, and diversion of resources from higher-valued uses—far outweigh any benefits.