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Noteworthy federal agency rules

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Noteworthy federal agency rules are rules and regulations that Ballotpedia covers as meaningful examples that clarify and illustrate the administrative regulatory actions affected by administrative state policies, rulemaking processes, and the separation and balance of powers.

From 1976 through 2024, an average of 4,500 federal rules were adopted every year, a total of over 220,000 rules. This page summarizes Ballotpedia's individual coverage of a selection of noteworthy rules. Factors that determine Ballotpedia's classification of a rule as noteworthy include:

  • the estimated economic impact of the rule and whether it is designated as economically significant by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB);
  • whether the OMB categorizes the rule as significant due to impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments or to conflict with other rules or priorities of the presidential administration;
  • whether the rule has been targeted by a congressional resolution of disapproval according to the Congressional Review Act;
  • whether the rule is key to a particular administration's policy priorities or is part of a trend in federal administration activity; and
  • whether the rule illustrates important administrative regulation process details or is central to an active policy debate.

Articles about individual rules and analysis of the noteworthy rules Ballotpedia has covered are broken out into three groups below. Click on the link for each rule to read more details about it.


  • Economically significant and other significant rules

    The rules listed in the first tab below are rules that the OMB has deemed economically or otherwise significant according to required review. To be economically significant, a rule

  • Independent agency rule subject to OIRA review

    The rules listed in the second tab are rules proposed by independent agencies after President Trump's February 2025 E.O. 14215 that required independent agencies to go through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) review process.

  • Rules targeted for nullification by Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval

    The rules listed on the third tab are rules that were adopted, but against which a member of Congress introduced and at least one chamber passed a resolution to disapprove of and nullify the regulatory action. These include rules adopted by a previous administration and targeted for nullification during the first part of the next administration.


Executive Order 12866, issued by President Bill Clinton (D) in 1993, directed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to determine which agency rules qualify as significant rules and thus are subject to OMB review.

Significant rules have had or might have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. These actions may also conflict with other rules or presidential priorities. Executive Order 12866 further defined an economically significant rule as a significant rule with an associated economic impact of $100 million or more. E.O. 14215, issued on February 18, 2025, by President Donald Trump (R), required independent agencies to comply with all aspects of OMB review, including review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).

Ballotpedia has identified the following significant rules as noteworthy due to their potential impact on agency authority and public policy.

Trump administration noteworthy rules


Biden administration noteworthy rules


Obama administration noteworthy rules


Bush administration noteworthy rules

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Smithsonian Magazine, "What Is the Congressional Review Act?" February 10, 2017
  2. ↑ Quartz, "The obscure law Donald Trump will use to unwind Obama's regulations," December 1, 2016
  3. ↑ U.S. News, "Democrats Push to Repeal Congressional Review Act," June 1, 2017
  4. ↑ The Hill, "The Congressional Review Act and a deregulatory agenda for Trump's second year," March 31, 2017
  5. ↑ New York Times, "Which Obama-Era Rules Are Being Reversed in the Trump Era," May 18, 2017
  6. ↑ Congress.gov, "S.J.Res.57," accessed May 22, 2018
  7. ↑ Congressional Record, "Vol. 167, No. 20: Proceedings and Debates of the 117th Congress, First Session," February 3, 2021
  8. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named trumpveto
  9. ↑ Congress.gov, "S.J.Res.13 - A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission relating to "Update of Commission's Conciliation Procedures"," accessed July 30, 2021
  10. ↑ Congress.gov, "S.J.Res.14 - A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources Review"," accessed July 30, 2021
  11. ↑ Congress.gov, "S.J.Res.15 - A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Office of the Comptroller of Currency relating to "National Banks and Federal Savings Associations as Lenders"," accessed July 30, 2021
  12. ↑ George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, "Congressional Review Act Tracker 2017," accessed July 28, 2017
  13. ↑ Government Accountability Office, "Congressional Review Act FAQs," accessed July 31, 2017
  14. ↑ Reuters, "Trump kills class-action rule against banks, lightening Wall Street regulation," November 1, 2017
  15. ↑ Congress.gov, "S.J.Res.57," accessed May 22, 2018
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