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On February 19, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/ensuring-lawful-governance-and-implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-regulatory-initiative/">Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative</a>,” giving federal agencies 60 days to develop lists of regulations that could be rescinded or modified. The lists are to identify the following classes of regulations:

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“Unconstitutional regulations and regulations that raise serious constitutional difficulties, such as exceeding the scope of the power vested in the Federal Government by the Constitution;

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Regulations that are based on unlawful delegations of legislative power;

Regulations that are based on anything other than the best reading of the underlying statutory authority or prohibition;

Regulations that implicate matters of social, political, or economic significance that are not authorized by clear statutory authority;

Regulations that impose significant costs upon private parties that are not outweighed by public benefits;

Regulations that harm the national interest by significantly and unjustifiably impeding technological innovation, infrastructure development, disaster response, inflation reduction, research and development, economic development, energy production, land use, and foreign policy objectives;

Regulations that impose undue burdens on small business and impede private enterprise and entrepreneurship.”

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Once agencies have compiled this list, they must consult with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to aggregate the regulations into a Unified Regulatory Agenda, to revise or repeal the regulations as necessary.

Agencies must also de-prioritize actions to enforce regulations that are “based on anything other than the best reading of the statute” or go “beyond the powers vested in the Federal Government by the Constitution.” Notably, agencies must determine whether the current enforcement of any such identified regulations are compliant with both law and administration policy. Case-by-case decisions must also be made whether to terminate enforcement proceedings that do not comply with the Constitution, laws, or administration policy. This will undoubtedly create uncertainty in the regulated community when trying to assess how to plan for and comply with the targeted regulations or to defend or settle enforcement actions.

This most recent Order represents a significant and direct push toward advancing deregulation by targeting regulations for repeal that ostensibly impede economic growth and innovation. The Order also empowers agencies to refocus enforcement resources to align with the administration’s policy priorities. Actions taken under this Order will likely face legal challenges and opposition from various stakeholders but will likely be championed by others.

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Dense green forest overlaid with a grid pattern and translucent colored squares.

Executive Order Directs Rescission and Enforcement Discretion of Certain Federal Regulations

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