Browse regulations

Establishes performance management framework for National Highway System, requiring State DOTs and MPOs to set targets, collect specific data (including 15-minute travel times), and report on pavement/bridge condition, travel time reliability, freight movement, congestion, and emissions.

Imposes costly data mandates (15-minute intervals, NPMRDS) and complex reporting requirements on states, diverting resources from infrastructure to bureaucracy. Creates centralized control over transportation metrics, stifling state innovation and imposing one-size-fits-all solutions. Private sector already collects equivalent data; federal micromanagement is unnecessary.

This regulation implements federal statutes requiring states to develop performance-based, multimodal transportation plans and improvement programs. It defines key terms (administrative modification, amendment, conformity, STIP, TIP, etc.) and mandates that states carry out continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive planning processes considering 10 specific factors including economic vitality, safety, accessibility, environment, and preservation. It requires coordination with MPOs, local officials, tribes, and federal agencies; public participation; fiscal constraint demonstrations; air quality conformity determinations; and integration of federal performance targets. The regulation sets the framework for how states must plan transportation systems to remain eligible for federal funding.

Federalizes state and local transportation planning through coercive conditional funding, violating Tenth Amendment federalism. Imposes massive compliance bureaucracy on states—entire planning departments, endless coordination, reporting, and conformity processes—diverting resources from actual infrastructure. Centralizes decision-making through federal performance targets and air quality mandates, overriding local knowledge and priorities. Creates perverse incentives to spend federal allocations rather than optimize outcomes. The unseen costs—delayed projects, distorted priorities, stifled innovation, and the hidden tax of bureaucratic compliance—far outweigh any speculative benefits. States should control transportation planning through their own funding mechanisms without federal mandates.

Establishes USADF's procedures for collecting non-tax debts, including administrative offset, wage garnishment, interest/penalties, hearings, and transfer to Treasury, largely adopting Federal Claims Collection Standards.

Duplicative of existing FCCS, adds regulatory burden without benefit, and facilitates unconstitutional federal overreach into international development violating Tenth Amendment.

Regulation establishes procedures for Foreign Service labor relations, including election supervision, resolution of unfair labor practices, bargaining disputes, and collective agreement administration by the Foreign Service Labor Relations Board.

Imposes significant administrative costs, creates bureaucratic delays, encourages adversarial labor relations that reduce operational flexibility, and establishes a specialized board with potential for regulatory capture—all for functions handled by existing employment law and voluntary contracts without national security justification.

Regulation prescribes Millennium Challenge Corporation's procedures for collecting non-tax debts owed to it and the United States, adopting Federal Claims Collection Standards (31 CFR parts 900-904). It covers administrative offset, wage garnishment, interest and penalties, salary offset for federal employees, notice requirements, hearing rights, reconsideration, waiver, compromise, suspension, and termination processes. The rule establishes procedural safeguards for debtors including 30-day notice before salary offset, right to hearing, and limits garnishment to 15% of disposable pay unless employee agrees otherwise.

This is a procedural debt collection rule that primarily adopts existing federal standards rather than creating new regulatory burdens. The procedural safeguards—notice, hearing rights, waiver processes, limits on garnishment amounts—actually constrain government power and protect individuals from arbitrary collection, aligning with rule of law principles. The regulation does not distort market outcomes or create barriers to entry; it governs how an existing government function operates. The modest administrative cost of following due process in collections is justified by preventing greater harms from unchecked government deprivation of property. Eliminating these procedures would concentrate power in the bureaucracy and undermine the constitutional principle that the government must follow fair processes when taking from citizens.

Directs Inter-American Foundation employees to comply with existing executive branch ethics regulations: Standards of Ethical Conduct (5 CFR 2635), agency supplements (5 CFR 7301), and financial disclosure rules (5 CFR 2634).

This regulation is a redundant pointer to ethics standards that already apply to executive branch employees by law. Keeping it merely adds to regulatory bulk and complexity without creating new obligations, contributing to the 185,000-page CFR that undermines the principle that laws must be knowable while providing no additional protection beyond the underlying rules.

Regulation designates the General Counsel of the Broadcasting Board of Governors as the agent for receiving legal process against the Board and its employees for official acts, requiring an endorsement stating 'Service accepted in official capacity only'.

Keeping this regulation imposes unnecessary procedural complexity and compliance burden on the agency, risks invalidating service due to technical omissions (exact phrasing), and duplicates existing legal frameworks like the Westfall Act. It contributes to regulatory expansion without providing unique benefits, and should be repealed to reduce red tape.

Regulation establishes USAID's procedures and standard terms for guaranteeing 100% of Ukrainian sovereign debt, up to $1 billion, under the 2016 Loan Guarantee Agreement, including eligibility criteria, claim processes, and subrogation rights.

This loan guarantee program transfers credit risk to U.S. taxpayers, creates moral hazard by insulating lenders from market discipline, and distorts international capital allocation; foreign aid should be transparently appropriated, not delivered through contingent liabilities that socialize losses.

Regulation establishes standard terms for USAID's loan guarantees backing up to $500 million in debt from Tunisia's central bank, with full U.S. government credit. It defines eligible notes, compensation claims process, and USAID's unconditional guarantee obligation.

Government foreign loan guarantees distort capital markets, expose U.S. taxpayers to sovereign default risk, and create moral hazard. Private markets can price and manage such risks more efficiently without socializing losses. This intervention improperly expands government's role and misallocates capital.

This regulation governs the Agency for International Development's (A.I.D.) authority to indemnify or settle personal damage claims against its employees. It allows indemnification after an adverse verdict/judgment, or settlement of claims, if conduct was within scope of employment and in U.S. interest as determined by the Administrator. Employees must notify A.I.D. immediately upon being sued and submit written requests through the General Counsel. All payments are contingent on available appropriated funds.

This regulation establishes a taxpayer-funded mechanism to shield federal employees from personal liability for job-related actions, creating moral hazard. The administrative bureaucracy (General Counsel review, Administrator discretion) and potential payouts impose costs with little public benefit. Federal employees should bear consequences of their actions like any citizen; necessary defenses can be handled through DOJ representation or case-specific appropriations. The regulation unnecessarily expands government and protects employees from accountability, contrary to limited government principles.

Implements Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, requiring the Department of State to ensure its information and communication technology (ICT) is accessible to individuals with disabilities. Covers development, procurement, maintenance, and use of ICT; mandates compliance with Revised 508 Standards unless undue burden; provides alternative access; establishes complaint and appeals process; prohibits retaliation.

Deletion would harm disabled Americans by removing mandated access to federal government services, information, and employment. Government as a monopolistic provider needs enforceable standards to prevent discrimination against disabled citizens. Voluntary compliance would be insufficient; the regulation achieves its goals through clear standards and accountability mechanisms that would be difficult to replicate otherwise.

Implements Title IX's prohibition on sex discrimination in education programs receiving federal financial assistance. Requires self-evaluations, grievance procedures, designated coordinators, notifications, and assurances. Covers admissions, treatment of students, and employment with exemptions for religious organizations, military training, and certain youth groups.

The regulation imposes substantial compliance costs (paperwork, designated staff, grievance systems), creates federal overreach into local education, and has fueled due process violations and free speech concerns on campuses. Education discrimination is better addressed through state laws and private accreditation rather than a complex federal regime that penalizes institutions for accepting ubiquitous federal funding.

This regulation exempts the Department of State from standard federal procurement rules (41 U.S.C. 10a) when purchasing books, maps, newspapers, periodicals, and other publications, if the Secretary determines that compliance would be inconsistent with the public interest.

This creates a vague, open-ended exemption from competitive procurement rules, inviting waste, abuse, and higher taxpayer costs. The subjective 'public interest' standard undermines the rule of law's requirement for clear, equally-applied rules and invites regulatory capture. Any legitimate need for procurement flexibility should be addressed through specific, narrow exceptions subject to congressional oversight, not bureaucratic self-dealing.

This regulation authorizes specific State Department officers to authenticate documents for international use, outlining the certificate format and requiring examination for unlawful purposes, including documents supporting foreign boycotts against US allies. It is a procedural authorization for a government service rather than a restriction on private conduct.

This is a legitimate core function of the State Department's foreign affairs authority. The authentication service facilitates international commerce and legal recognition while preventing fraud. Costs are administrative and typically covered by user fees. Eliminating it would create uncertainty and barriers in cross-border transactions without reducing substantive regulatory burdens on Americans.

Establishes procedures for serving legal documents on foreign states in US litigation, designating the State Department's Managing Director for Overseas Citizen Service as the channel for delivery through diplomatic means. Includes required forms and translations to ensure foreign governments receive proper notice of lawsuits.

Deletion would undermine the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's practical operation by eliminating the official diplomatic channel for service of process, creating chaos in international litigation. This minor procedural requirement ensures foreign governments receive proper notice through recognized channels, preventing duplicative efforts, diplomatic incidents, and judgments that could be challenged for improper service. The costs are minimal and confined to a narrow category of cases involving foreign sovereigns.