federal-register
Every record this desk has filed under federal-register, newest first, each with the number of sources it can still show you.
Forest Service files final rule with shorter comment and objection periods for national forest projects
A Forest Service final rule filed October 9 would give people 15 days to comment on projects assessed with an environmental assessment and 30 days for those with an environmental impact statement. Objections would have 10- or 20-day windows. Publication is scheduled for October 13; the Register lists November 12 as the effective date. Existing projects have separate transition rules.
Also filed underforest-servicepublic-commentnational-forestsadministrative-review
EPA files final rule delaying the initial hazardous-spill response-plan deadline from June 2027 to June 2030
EPA has filed a final rule moving the initial deadline for covered facilities' hazardous-substance spill response plans from June 1, 2027 to June 1, 2030. It also removes express references to climate change and environmental justice. The rule is scheduled to publish October 13; the Register lists December 14 as its effective date. Separate timing applies to newly regulated and newly constructed facilities.
Also filed underepahazardous-substancesspill-responseclean-water-actcompliance-deadlines
FAA files final rule prohibiting further Elixir aircraft flights until approved corrective actions are completed
An FAA directive filed October 8 would prohibit further flight of all Elixir Model Elixir airplanes until corrective actions approved by the agency are completed. It follows a fatal production-flight accident whose cause remains under investigation. The Register lists October 14 as the effective date and November 27 for comments, based on scheduled October 13 publication. FAA estimates three U.S.-registered airplanes are affected.
Also filed underfaaaviation-safetyelixir-aircraftairworthiness-directive
EPA files final rule transferring carbon-storage well permitting to Colorado while retaining authority on Indian lands
EPA has approved Colorado's application to administer Class VI carbon-storage injection-well permits outside Indian lands. The final rule was filed October 9 and is scheduled to publish October 13. The Register lists November 12 as the effective date. Colorado's Energy and Carbon Management Commission would issue and enforce permits, while EPA retains oversight and remains the permitting authority on Indian lands.
Also filed underepacoloradocarbon-storagedrinking-waterunderground-injection
Final rule on immigration civil penalties for failing to depart or entering unlawfully, scheduled to publish October 14, finalizes a 15-business-day appeal to DHS and adds a mail-delay exception
The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review filed a final rule October 9, scheduled to publish and take effect October 14. It finalizes a 2025 interim rule on civil penalties for not departing as ordered or entering unlawfully. An appeal must be postmarked within 15 business days of service. The one change lets ICE accept a late appeal when it finds a documented mail delay was beyond the person's control.
Also filed underimmigrationcivil-penaltiesremoval-ordersvoluntary-departureice
DEA intends to place 7-OH and a related substance in Schedule I only above a threshold: over 1 mg per gram or milliliter, or a mitragynine-to-substance ratio under 100
The Drug Enforcement Administration filed a notice October 9 saying it intends to place 7-OH and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl in Schedule I only above a threshold: more than 1 mg per gram of solid or per milliliter of liquid, or a mass ratio of mitragynine to either substance, or both combined, under 100. It is scheduled to publish October 14. It is not itself an order, and it says neither HHS nor DEA has made a finding that the substances are safe to use at below-threshold levels.
Also filed under7-ohkratomdeaschedule-icontrolled-substances
FDA's final rule, scheduled to publish October 13, permits salt substitutes in 139 food standards, from cheddar to canned corn; using them is optional
The Food and Drug Administration filed a final rule October 9, scheduled to be published October 13, that permits salt substitutes in 139 federal food standards, among them cheddar, bread, canned corn, margarine and mayonnaise. Using one is optional. FDA adds no label requirement and points shoppers who watch potassium to the ingredient list and Nutrition Facts label. The Register's record gives an effective date of December 14; objections to the dairy standards are due November 12.
Also filed underfdafood-labelingsodiumpotassiumfood-standards
CBP proposes that rail carriers send it advance data on passengers and crew crossing the U.S. border by train, including name, birth date and travel document
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has proposed requiring rail carriers to send it travelers' identity, travel document and itinerary details before a train crosses the U.S. border. The proposal, scheduled to be published October 13, would make traveler data due 60 minutes before departure and a train notice 24 hours before the train reaches the border. It includes no start date. The Federal Register's record lists comments closing December 14, 2026.
Also filed underrailborder-crossingcustoms-and-border-protectionproposed-ruletravel-privacy
CFTC asks for public comment on its intent to develop rules for retail crypto trades offered with leverage, margin or financing; this is an advance notice, not a proposed rule
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on October 13, that seeks comment on its intent to develop rules for retail crypto trades offered with leverage, margin or financing. It contains no rule text. The agency's inspection copy prints only a bracket for the comment date; the Register's own record for the October 13 issue gives December 14, 2026.
Also filed undercftccrypto-assetsrulemakingpublic-commentretail-investors
FDA codifies infant oxygen monitor controls covering performance, caregiver understanding and instructions about their limits
An October 9 FDA order puts controls for over-the-counter infant pulse and oxygen monitors into federal regulations. It codifies a classification that applied in November 2023, rather than announcing a new product approval. The controls require testing across expected users and conditions, including skin pigmentation, and instructions that help caregivers interpret readings and understand appropriate actions.
Also filed underhealthinfant-monitorsmedical-devicesconsumer-protectionfda
FDA proposes broader food-traceability relief for restaurants and retailers above its existing small-business exemption
FDA released draft guidance stating that it does not intend to enforce its food-traceability requirements for another band of small restaurants and retailers. The thresholds use three-year average food sales or provision, adjusted for inflation from 2020. Comments on the draft are due November 23 for consideration before final guidance. A separate November 6 meeting will examine tracking problems and possible flexibility.
Also filed underfood-safetyfood-traceabilityrestaurantssmall-businesspublic-comment
Qualifying driverless trucks get five years to use cab-mounted warning lights instead of roadside warning devices
Federal motor-carrier regulators granted Aurora and qualifying carriers a five-year exemption for Level 4 automated trucks to use cab-mounted beacons instead of traditional roadside warning devices. It began October 7 and was published October 9. The lights must activate within five minutes, ordinary hazard flashers must remain on, and operations are limited to each vehicle's validated conditions. Passenger and hazardous-material transport are excluded.
Also filed undertransportationautomated-trucksroad-safetyexemptionsfmcsa
FDA codifies home-collected STI test controls, including laboratory shipping and warnings about negative results
FDA's October 9 order codifies controls for tests that use specimens collected at home to detect non-viral microorganisms causing sexually transmitted infections. Testing takes place in a clinical laboratory, and the box must make that shipping step clear. The classification dates to November 2023. Required warnings say negative results do not rule out other pathogens and the system does not replace a healthcare visit.
Also filed underhealthsexually-transmitted-infectionshome-testingmedical-devicesfda
A $70,000 fee gets a 30-day comment period; the paperwork that would record it gets 60, in one DATES line
DHS's Optional Practical Training fee proposal sets two deadlines in a single DATES line: November 9, 2026 for the rule, December 7 for its information collection. The rule's one sentence about those 30 days measures them against the time an F-1 student needs to change status or depart — notice, rather than time to comment. The Paperwork Reduction Act's 60-day notice provision carries an exception for a collection inside a proposed rule, so on the statutes read here, neither number is a floor someone set for the agency.
Also filed underrulemakingpublic-commentimmigrationpaperwork-reduction-act
Customs proposes a new electronic entry type for mail packages valued at $2,500 or less, with filing due on arrival, a tracking number and a bond
U.S. Customs and Border Protection proposed a rule October 8 that would require electronic filing, a bond and a carrier-reported tracking number for low-value shipments — goods whose shipment value is $2,500 or less — including a new entry type for those arriving by mail. Packages would need to be entered before or on arrival instead of within 15 days, and an unentered mail article would be treated as abandoned after 15 days. Comments are due by December 7, 2026.
Also filed undercustomsmail-shipmentsimportsde-minimis
CMS proposes letting lab staff review most test data remotely, but not cytology, and to drop a COVID-era reporting rule
CMS and the CDC proposed a rule October 8 that would let laboratory personnel review most digital test data and images from off-site under their lab's existing certificate, with cytology excluded. It would also allow digital images of slides for gynecologic cytology proficiency testing, ease some personnel qualification rules, and rescind SARS-CoV-2 reporting requirements left on the books since the public health emergency ended. Comments must be received by December 7, 2026.
Also filed underhealthmedicareregulationlaboratories
Minimum wage for certain older federal contracts rises to $14.05 an hour, tipped cash wage to $9.85, effective January 6, 2027
The Department of Labor says the minimum wage required on a shrinking set of federal contracts rises to $14.05 an hour, and the required cash wage for tipped workers on those contracts to $9.85 an hour, both starting January 6, 2027. The current rates are $13.65 and $9.55. The notice says the rates cover only certain Davis-Bacon Act and Service Contract Act contracts awarded between January 1, 2015, and January 29, 2022, and not renewed or extended on or after January 30, 2022.
Also filed underlaborfederal-contractsminimum-wagewage-and-hour-division
Federal tariff actions against China over technology transfer and intellectual property did not terminate on their 2026 anniversaries, after domestic industries asked to keep them.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said October 7 that two Section 301 tariff actions on China, from July 6 and August 23, 2018, did not terminate on their four-year anniversaries because representatives of domestic industries asked to keep them. USTR counted 68 producer and 18 trade-association requests for the July action, and 57 producer and 19 for the August one; both remain in effect, subject to further review. A same-day notice makes a technical fix to one product exclusion's tariff code, retroactive to July 1, 2026.
Also filed undertariffschina-tradesection-301ustr
The U.S. Copyright Office is asking the public about music streaming fraud, including bots, click farms and misattributed uploads, with written comments due November 23 and replies due December 21.
The Copyright Office published a notice of inquiry October 7 asking the public about music streaming fraud, after a May 21, 2026 letter from Representative Scott Fitzgerald of the Committee on the Judiciary. The notice describes bot farms, click farms, playlist stuffing and uploads that claim someone else's work, and poses ten questions, including fraud's ties to AI-generated music. Written comments are due November 23, 2026; reply comments, December 21. It proposes no rule and binds no one; anyone may comment through regulations.gov.
Also filed undermusicstreaming-fraudcopyright-officeroyalties
Final health-price rule adds telephone access in 2027 and changes the files insurers must publish
A final rule published October 6 adds telephone access to health-plan cost information for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2027. It also restructures public price files and moves their updates from monthly to quarterly. The published effective date is December 7, 2026; separate file requirements begin March 6 and September 6, 2027.
Also filed underhealth-insuranceprice-transparencyhealthcare-pricinghhs
FAA proposes five separate rules the same day easing commercial rocket launch and reentry licensing, each with a November 4 comment deadline
The FAA filed five separate proposed rules for the same October 5 Federal Register issue, each easing a requirement a commercial rocket launch or reentry licensee must meet — lightning mitigation, blast-overpressure analysis, physical containment, flight-safety paperwork, and electronic application submission. Four amend the safety criteria in 14 CFR part 450; the fifth amends the application-filing procedures. The Federal Register's text for the scheduled issue gives all five the same comment deadline, November 4, 2026, through five separate dockets at regulations.gov.
Also filed underfaacommercial-spacerocket-launchesregulation
NRC moves to let certain nuclear materials be used without a license, and the rule takes effect on its own unless someone objects
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expanding when certain radioactive materials can be used without a license, in a direct final rule paired with a companion proposed rule, both scheduled to publish Monday, October 5, 2026. It also lets Department of Energy contractors run certain training without filing a separate exemption request each time. The rule takes effect 75 days after publication unless a significant adverse comment arrives within 30 days - by this desk's count, November 4, 2026.
Also filed undernuclear-regulatory-commissionderegulationlicensing-exemptionsnuclear-materials
HUD will not change its Section 3 labor benchmarks, 25 percent and 5 percent, in a notice scheduled for October 5
HUD is not changing its Section 3 benchmarks: in a notice scheduled to publish October 5, the agency keeps the labor-hour targets set in 2020 - 25 percent of hours worked by Section 3 workers and 5 percent by Targeted Section 3 workers - for both public housing agencies and contractors on HUD-funded construction projects over $200,000. HUD says it does not yet have enough completed-project data to justify a change. Comments close 60 days after publication, December 4, 2026 by this desk's count.
Also filed underhudsection-3public-housingconstruction-laboraffordable-housing
One question, five file numbers: three agencies each split a subject across several documents in the same issue, and handled the pointing three different ways
Monday's Federal Register carries twelve documents covering three subjects. The SEC asks in five separate notices whether a professional credential should qualify someone as an accredited investor, and each keeps its own file number and its own comment path. The NRC files a rule and its companion proposal and says a comment on one counts as a comment on both. The FAA files five launch-licensing proposals that all cite the same executive order, and not one of them mentions the other four.
Also filed underrulemakingpublic-commentdockets
Census Bureau proposal would drop noncitizens without lawful permanent residency from the apportionment count and bar race, ethnicity and sexual-orientation questions from the census form
A Census Bureau proposed rule published September 10 would change who counts for apportionment, the count that divides U.S. House seats among the states: foreign citizens would be counted only if they are also U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, a change from the 2020 criteria, which counted them regardless of legal status. A second, independent part would bar race, ethnicity and sexual-orientation questions from the short-form census questionnaire. In a notice scheduled to publish October 5, the Bureau extended the comment deadline to November 2.
Also filed undercensusresidence-criteriaapportionmentimmigrationdemographic-questions
A federal proposal would remove the title IV-B child welfare reporting rules for states and tribes, cutting the hours those reports take by an estimated 61 percent
The Administration for Children and Families proposes removing the regulations behind the Child and Family Services Plan, the Annual Progress and Services Report and Form CFS-101, filed for public inspection October 2 and scheduled to publish October 5, 2026. ACF estimates the change would cut 235 state and tribal agencies' reporting from 49,350 to about 19,355 hours a year, a 60.78 percent reduction, saving those agencies an estimated $1.4 million a year. The review and penalty procedures are not rewritten. Comments are due 30 days after publication, through regulations.gov.
Also filed underchild-welfarefoster-carehhsrulemaking
A comment deadline moved three weeks, and the rule still shows the old date
The Census Bureau's proposed residence criteria say comments are due October 13. On October 2 the Bureau filed a notice moving that to November 2. Checked on October 3, the Federal Register's own record for the rule still returned October 13, with an empty corrections list, on a docket that had already drawn 33,382 comments. A Federal Reserve docket printed to close this Monday will now close November 4, the Board says, with nothing in the Register saying so at all.
Also filed underrulemakingpublic-commentdeadlines
Federal Reserve final rules open stress-test scenarios and material model changes to public input and average two years of results in capital buffers from 2029; 2027 model comments due December 1
The Federal Reserve Board published two final rules and a request for comment on October 2. One rule sets a yearly calendar for putting stress-test scenarios and material model changes out for public input; under the other, a bank tested in consecutive years gets a capital buffer built on two years of results, starting January 1, 2029. Comments on proposed 2027 model changes must be received by December 1, 2026.
Also filed underfederal-reservestress-testbank-capitalstress-capital-bufferfinal-rule
The SEC's final quorum rule, effective October 2, lets one commissioner be a quorum on a matter when every other commissioner in office is disqualified from it
The Securities and Exchange Commission published a final rule October 2, effective that day, amending its quorum rule, 17 CFR 200.41. Three commissioners remain a quorum, with exceptions. The old text covered a matter on which two commissioners could still take part; the new text also covers one. The SEC says the amendments are 'designed to promote flexibility and finality of agency rulemaking' and needed no public comment because they concern internal management.
Also filed undersecquorumcommission-rulesadministrative-procedure-actfinal-rule
The fiscal 2027 refugee limit is up to 17,500, the level fiscal 2026's was raised to in May, with admissions to be allocated primarily among Afrikaners from South Africa
Presidential Determination No. 2026-24, signed September 25 and published October 2, says up to 17,500 refugees may be admitted in fiscal year 2027. It says admissions shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa and gives no split by region or category. Fiscal 2026's limit was 7,500 until a May 21 determination raised it to 17,500. The document describes no step for the public.
Also filed underrefugeesimmigrationpresidential-determinationfiscal-2027south-africa
An executive order directs the General Services Administration to make America.gov the single online entry point for covered federal services, with Login.gov to handle sign-in
Executive Order 14432, signed September 29 and published October 2, directs the General Services Administration to run America.gov as the single online entry point for covered federal services: those with more than 100,000 users in 12 months, minus IRS tax filing and services the Department of War and Intelligence Community elements provide. Login.gov is to be its sign-in service. The order's one deadline: the Office of Management and Budget owes agencies an implementation memo within 90 days, December 28 by this desk's count.
Also filed underamerica-govexecutive-orderlogin-govdigital-identityprivacy
Executive Order 14433 gives agencies 60 days to develop and implement a D.C. campaign to cut invasive mosquitoes 90 percent and ticks 50 percent by 2028
Executive Order 14433, dated September 29 and published October 2, directs the Interior Department, the Agriculture Department, EPA and the General Services Administration to develop and implement a D.C. tick and mosquito campaign within 60 days, aiming by 2028 to cut invasive mosquitoes 90 percent and ticks 50 percent. By this desk's count, 60 days is November 28 and the 90-day prize and research steps fall December 28. The order names no specific pesticide and its text changes no regulation.
Also filed underexecutive-orderticksmosquitoespublic-healthwashington-dc
Homeland Security waives a federal law on water-rights suits and New Mexico's water code and rules for building border barriers and roads on a New Mexico segment, effective October 2
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice October 2 waiving legal requirements for border barrier and road construction in a New Mexico project area, effective that day. It lists a 1952 federal law on water-rights suits, the New Mexico Water Code and two parts of the state's underground-water rules. It does not name the National Environmental Policy Act or the Endangered Species Act and gives no miles or counties. The 1996 law behind the waiver limits court challenges to constitutional claims filed within 60 days.
Also filed underborder-securitynew-mexicolegal-waiverswater-rightshomeland-security
IRS filed temporary regulations and a proposed rule for a new $1,700 scholarship tax credit, both set to publish October 2
The Internal Revenue Service filed two documents today, both titled 'Federal Scholarship Tax Credit' and both scheduled to publish in the Federal Register October 2. One is temporary regulations covering registration, state elections and reporting; the other is a proposed rule, open for comment, covering who may claim the credit. The statute caps the credit at $1,700 a year per taxpayer for cash gifts to certified scholarship charities, and applies to taxable years ending after December 31, 2026. Neither set of rules changes a 2026 return.
Also filed undertaxeseducationscholarshipstax-creditirs
Executive order tells federal agencies to use 'Super Intelligence' in place of 'artificial intelligence' and 'AI,' and calls for a proposed legal definition within 60 days
Executive Order 14434, 'Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence,' went on public inspection October 1 and is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register October 2. Dated September 29, it directs agencies to use 'Super Intelligence' and 'SI' in place of 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI' in non-statutory documents, to the maximum extent the law permits, and ties both terms to the artificial-intelligence definition already in 15 U.S.C. 9401(3). Within 60 days, the President's science and technology adviser must propose legislative language for a new definition.
Also filed underartificial-intelligenceexecutive-ordersuper-intelligencetechnology-policy
A new executive order tells agencies to say 'Super Intelligence' instead of 'AI', then defines the new term as the old one
Executive Order 14434 went on public display October 1, scheduled to print in the Federal Register October 2. It tells agencies to use 'Super Intelligence' and 'SI' in place of 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI' in their non-statutory documents. Section 3 then says the new terms mean the technologies defined as artificial intelligence in 15 U.S.C. 9401(3) — a definition Congress enacted in January 2021. So the word changes in what agencies write, and what it legally covers does not change unless Congress acts or a later order supersedes it.
Also filed underexecutive-ordertechnology-policystatutory-definitionspublic-records
Temporary Treasury and IRS rules effective September 30 provide for opening a Trump account on or about October 1 for each eligible child who does not have one
Temporary Treasury and IRS rules effective September 30 say Treasury will open a Trump account on or about October 1 for each eligible child who has none, without action from parents. A guardian can claim it later. The $1,000 federal pilot deposit is separate, and Treasury cannot make that election itself. Comments on the companion proposed rules are due November 30, 2026.
Also filed undertrump-accountschild-savingstreasuryirsemployer-benefits
CMS's final GLOBE rule, scheduled to publish October 2, adds rebates on certain Part B drugs tied to other countries' prices and can cut some patients' coinsurance from April 2027.
CMS's final rule creating the GLOBE Model is on public inspection and scheduled to publish October 2; it takes effect November 30, 2026. Makers of certain Medicare Part B drugs must take part and may owe rebates measured against other countries' prices. From April 1, 2027, people in Original Medicare in randomly chosen ZIP codes can pay less coinsurance on covered drugs. CMS says patients do not have to enroll or take any action.
Also filed undermedicareprescription-drugspart-bcmsdrug-pricing
A Homeland Security notice scheduled to print October 1 raises six immigration fees by $3 to $30 for requests postmarked 15 days after publication or later
A Homeland Security notice on public inspection, scheduled to be published October 1, adjusts fees that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services collects under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Of 13 fees in its table, six rise by $3 to $30, including parole ($1,020 to $1,050) and the annual asylum fee ($102 to $105). A request postmarked 15 days after publication or later without the proper fee will be rejected.
Also filed underimmigrationimmigration-feesuscishomeland-securityasylumone-big-beautiful-bill-act
FTC's call for comment on platform ad tools and impersonation scams is scheduled for Federal Register publication October 1, with comments due 60 days later; it has no draft rule.
The Federal Trade Commission's advance notice of proposed rulemaking on platforms and impersonation scams was filed September 30 for Federal Register public inspection and is scheduled to publish October 1. It asks the public whether to write rules for search engines, social media and other platforms whose ad-optimization tools it says further scams impersonating businesses and government agencies. It contains no rule text. Comments are due 60 days after publication, a date the printed notice will fix; file them at Regulations.gov.
Also filed underftcconsumer-protectionimpersonation-scamsonline-advertisingplatformsrulemaking
FCC rules changing how phone companies retire copper lines and end landline service are set to take effect 14 days after a Federal Register notice scheduled for October 1
The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau says the delayed parts of its rules for retiring copper lines and ending legacy voice service take effect 14 days after a Federal Register notice scheduled for October 1, which by this desk's count is October 15. The FCC says carriers must tell customers about a discontinuance application no later than the day they file it. Customers can object; an application that qualifies is granted automatically on the 31st day after the FCC's public notice unless the FCC says otherwise.
Also filed underfcclandlinescopper-retirementtelecommunicationsservice-discontinuanceconsumer-notice
NHTSA's final rule amending fuel-economy standards estimates a model-year 2031 average requirement of about 34.9 mpg, versus about 49.3 under the 2024 standards; it takes effect November 30
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a final rule September 30 amending fuel-economy standards for model years 2022 through 2031. It estimates the model year 2031 average requirement at about 34.9 mpg, versus about 49.3 under the 2024 standards. It also estimates average new-vehicle costs for that year would be $1,289 lower if savings are passed on, and gasoline use through 2050 4.6 percent higher. The rule takes effect November 30 and sets no new comment period.
Also filed underfuel-economycafe-standardsnhtsanew-carstransportation
Tomorrow's federal rules are public tonight, and the law says that counts as telling you
Every working day, the documents scheduled for the next Federal Register go on public display about a day early, free and without an account. Federal law says that filing, which comes before the printed issue, is generally enough to give notice of what the documents say. On Wednesday a 585-page Medicare drug-pricing rule went up that way two days before publication, and its page had been viewed 1,405 times by a quarter past midnight Eastern. The median document on the same list had been viewed 13 times.
Also filed underrulemakingpublic-recordsgovernment-transparency
Fiscal 2027 starts Thursday: the SNAP maximum for a family of four rises to $1,023 in the 48 states and D.C. but falls to $1,655 in Hawaii, most immigration court filing fees rise for filings from October 1, domestic package postage rises 6.0 percent on average from October 4, and the 2027 Social Security raise is not an October 1 change at all.
Fiscal year 2027 begins Thursday, October 1, and a set of federal numbers resets with it. Under the Agriculture Department's August 21 memo to states, SNAP's maximum monthly benefit for a family of four becomes $1,023 in the 48 states and D.C., up from this year's $994, and also rises in Alaska, Guam and the Virgin Islands, but falls in Hawaii, to $1,655 from $1,689. The memo gives no reason. The separate fee Congress added to a green card application filed in immigration court rises from $1,540 to $1,590 for filings on or after October 1, and the annual asylum fee from $102 to $105. Postal Service prices for Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, Ground Advantage and Parcel Select rise 6.0 percent on average from October 4 until January 17, 2027. The FBI's fee for a fingerprint check for a job or license rises from $12 to $15. Medicare Advantage plans may start marketing 2027 coverage October 1. Not out yet: the 2027 Social Security raise, which waits on price data due October 14, and, on the CMS pages read September 28, the 2027 plan premiums CMS said it would release in September.
Also filed undersnapimmigration-courtpostal-servicemedicaresocial-securityfiscal-2027
Starting September 30, living organ donors qualify for up to $6,000 in travel, lost-wage and caregiving reimbursement based on their own household income instead of the recipient's; HRSA's final guidelines open all three income tiers at the start of each budget period, up to 750 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, and name no priority category for donors above that line.
Starting September 30, 2026, the federal program that repays living organ donors for travel, lost wages and child and elder care will judge eligibility by the donor's own household income instead of the organ recipient's. The Health Resources and Services Administration's final guidelines, filed for public inspection September 28 and scheduled for publication September 29, carry out the Honor Our Living Donors Act, enacted February 3. Priority Category 1 covers donors at or below 350 percent of the HHS poverty guidelines; Category 2, up to 500 percent ($165,000 for a household of four in the 48 states and D.C.); Category 3, a financial hardship waiver, up to 750 percent ($247,500). After 44 public comments, HRSA dropped its plan to open Category 2 only partway through the funding period: all three open at the start of each budget period, and Categories 2 and 3 can close if money runs short. The limit stays $6,000 per organ, as it has been since 2007. Under the 2020 rules a donor of any income could qualify if the recipient's income was low enough; no new category reaches above 750 percent. Applications go through transplant centers; costs incurred before approval are not reimbursed.
Also filed underhrsaorgan-donationliving-donorstransplantshealth-policy
Today is the last day to comment on the Labor Department's plan to replace the 2024 rule's 100 percent black lung collateral for self-insured coal companies with seven tiers from 10 to 100 percent, phased in over three years, and five comments had been filed by Monday's count
Written comments on the Labor Department's proposed rewrite of how self-insured coal companies guarantee black lung benefits 'must be received by September 28, 2026', which is today. The proposal (FR Doc. 2026-15325, docket WCPO-2026-0529, RIN 1240-AA16) would replace the 2024 rule's requirement of security equal to 100 percent of estimated liabilities within one year with seven tiers based on financial strength, requiring 10 to 100 percent, phased in over three years. The Department says self-insured operators would still pledge 'over $300 million' more and would save about $7 million to $28 million a year. Its analysis says the change 'reallocates a portion of the bankruptcy-related risk to the taxpayers' while keeping deposits 'appropriately aligned with the associated risk of bankruptcy'. The backdrop: from 2014 to 2016, three self-insured operators went bankrupt with $27.4 million in collateral, and the liabilities that passed to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund were 'eventually estimated to be $865 million'. When the Federal Register checked regulations.gov at 15:55 UTC today, five comments had been filed.
Also filed underblack-lunglabor-departmentcoal-miningworkers-compensationpublic-comment
The Federal Reserve's stablecoin proposal, publishing September 29 with 60 days for comment, would make the issuers it supervises pay holders within two business days and, if reserves fall below one-to-one, start liquidating by 5 p.m. on the business day after a 24-hour plan deadline, with no redemption fees, unless backing is restored or the Fed directs the issuer to follow its plan.
The Federal Reserve Board's proposed rule implementing the GENIUS Act (Docket R-1899, FR Doc. 2026-19860), on public inspection September 28 and scheduled for Federal Register publication September 29, sets terms for the stablecoin issuers the Fed will supervise. Issuers would have to redeem within two business days of a request, for any amount of one coin or more, after customer screening. An issuer whose reserves fall below one-to-one would have 24 hours to notify the Fed and file a plan, and must begin liquidating by 5 p.m. on the business day after that deadline unless it has restored full backing or the Fed directs it to follow its plan, charging no redemption fees and issuing no new coins while it does. The Fed would presume that yield paid to holders through an issuer's affiliates, yield-service firms or brand partners is prohibited. The redemption rules do not reach trading on exchanges, and the Fed says no bank it supervises currently owns a stablecoin issuer. Comments close 60 days after publication; that lands on Saturday, November 28, which Federal Register rules push to Monday, November 30, 2026, by Hugin's count. The printed notice will state the date.
Also filed underfederal-reservestablecoinsgenius-actcryptoconsumer-protectionpublic-comment
FEMA's caps on disaster grants to a household are $44,800 for housing and $44,800 for other needs in disasters declared since October 1, 2025, under a notice filed September 28, 2026, 362 days after the date it applies from; the 23 earlier notices of the cap, 2002 through 2024, each appeared by November 15.
FEMA filed a notice on September 28, 2026, for Federal Register publication September 29, setting the maximum amounts its Individuals and Households Program pays one household for one disaster: $44,800 for housing assistance and $44,800 for other needs assistance, for emergencies and major disasters declared on or after October 1, 2025. The previous caps, set in October 2024 for disasters declared from October 1, 2024, were $43,600 each. Companion notices filed the same morning raise the Serious Needs Assistance award to $790, from $770, and the Public Assistance small-project threshold to $1,093,800, from $1,062,900. All rest on a 2.9 percent rise in consumer prices in the 12 months to August 2025. The law requires an annual adjustment. The 23 earlier notices of the cap that a Federal Register search returns, 2002 through 2024, each appeared between October 6 and November 15 of the year their coverage began; Hugin found none in 2025. The notices do not say which cap FEMA applied to these disasters before now. No cap for disasters declared from October 1, 2026 had been filed by midday September 28.
Also filed underfemadisaster-aiddisaster-recoveryhousing-assistanceinflation-adjustment
CMS canceled about 315,000 HealthCare.gov policies covering more than 760,000 people on August 31. Its new broker rule describes them as broker-assisted enrollments with unverified citizenship or immigration documentation, no identified claims and no consumer contact, and says CMS's additional preventive controls will not be fully operational before Open Enrollment opens November 1.
On August 31 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services canceled approximately 315,000 Plan Year 2026 policies covering more than 760,000 people in the federal Marketplace. CMS's September 22 fact sheet says the cancellations followed confirmation that the enrollments were unauthorized, and that CMS expects about $2.2 billion in advance premium tax credits to be returned. The interim final rule published September 23 (CMS-9872-IFC, 91 FR 60317) describes the same policies as enrolled with agent or broker assistance, without verified citizenship or immigration documentation, where insurers could identify no claims and could not reach the consumer. The rule, effective September 22, bars agents and brokers who had no 2026 Exchange agreement from registering for Plan Year 2027 until February 1, 2027. It cites more than 624,000 confirmed complaints of unauthorized enrollment or plan switching from 2023 through 2025, and says CMS's additional preventive controls will not be fully operational before Open Enrollment opens November 1. Comments are due November 21. None of the documents says how the people whose coverage was canceled were told, or how anyone canceled in error gets coverage back.
Also filed undercmshealth-insuranceacamarketplaceinsurance-brokersconsumer-protection
A September 18 proclamation extends the $100,000 H-1B payment for another year, to September 21, 2027, citing payments on over 700 petitions and a 92 percent drop in outsourcing-firm registrations, and does not mention that a federal court vacated the guidance used to collect it; USCIS's page still says DHS will comply with that ruling.
Proclamation 11069, signed September 18 and published in the Federal Register on September 23, extended for 12 months, to September 21, 2027, the $100,000 payment required with new H-1B petitions for workers outside the United States. It says the payment has been made for over 700 petitions since September 21, 2025, that the largest IT staffing and outsourcing firms cut their combined registrations from 24,946 to 2,055, and that consular processing requests fell nearly 97 percent. It does not mention that on June 8, 2026 a federal court in Massachusetts vacated the agency guidance used to collect the payment, or that the First Circuit refused to pause that ruling on July 24. USCIS's H-1B page, last reviewed September 21, still says DHS will comply with the court's order. A companion order, Executive Order 14431, tells State, Labor and DHS to weigh a sponsor's layoffs in the previous year, or planned ones, and gives the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division until October 18 to begin reviewing labor condition applications already on file.
Also filed underh-1bimmigrationwhite-housedhslabor-departmentfederal-courts
The deadline Hugin could not give on September 16 now exists: the SEC's proposals to rescind shareholder-proposal Rule 14a-8 and to modernize proxy solicitation were printed in the Federal Register on September 21, and comments on both are due November 20, 2026.
On September 21 the Federal Register printed the two SEC proposing releases announced September 16: FR Doc. 2026-19260, which would rescind Rule 14a-8, the shareholder proposal rule, and amend Rule 14a-4 (91 FR 59904, File No. S7-2026-32), and FR Doc. 2026-19259, Proxy Solicitation Modernization (91 FR 59852, File No. S7-2026-33). That printing started the 60-day clock, and both releases now give the same deadline: November 20, 2026. The rescission release says comments 'should be received' by then, so a mailed letter should arrive by that date. The release estimates that 697 to 932 shareholder proposals were submitted each year from 2020 to 2025, with 437 to 599 included in proxy materials each year, and it puts the rescission's monetized annual savings at about $39.6 million. Costs it describes for shareholders and for the transition to state law carry no number in that total. Comments can go through the SEC's web form, by email to rule-comments@sec.gov with the file number in the subject line, or on paper.
Also filed undersecshareholder-proposalsrule-14a-8proxycomment-deadline
The CPSC's eleven recalls of September 24 include about 51,000 recliner battery packs and about 21,380 power banks with a reported $2 million fire, ten of the eleven sold on Amazon; the same day the Commission proposed treating hazardous cords on custom blinds and shades, and cord loop lifts on roll-up shades, as a substantial product hazard, with comments due November 23.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission posted eleven recalls dated September 24, 2026, covering about 197,000 products sold in the United States by the notices' own estimates. Ten of the eleven list Amazon.com as a place of sale, six as the only one. The largest are about 51,000 Blue Cactus Company battery packs for reclining chairs, which can overheat; about 48,405 Kesyup mattresses that violate the federal flammability standard; about 43,674 light-up children's toys with button batteries children can reach; and about 25,073 Aitjunz dressers that violate the federal standard for clothing storage units. NEWDERY power banks, about 21,380, carry the heaviest record: nine reports of the power banks exploding and igniting, including a fire with $2 million in property damage and one burn injury. No deaths are reported. The same day the Commission proposed deeming hazardous cords on custom blinds and shades, and cord loop lifts on roll-up shades, a substantial product hazard, citing 73 cord incidents involving children 8 and younger from 2018 through 2025. Written comments are due November 23, 2026.
Also filed undercpscrecallsproduct-safetywindow-coveringslithium-ion-batteriesamazonchildren
The FAA proposes inspecting elevator-control bearings on an estimated 95 U.S.-registered 737-8, 737-9 and 737-8200 airplanes after a report that the bearings may have been installed incorrectly in production, including without sealant, and the Boeing bulletin it would make mandatory gives operators 126 months to look.
A proposed airworthiness directive published September 21 (Docket No. FAA-2026-8811) would require detailed inspections of the elevator buss assembly bearings and bearing housings on certain Boeing 737-8, 737-9 and 737-8200 airplanes; an FAA directive from 2020 calls the first two the 737 MAX. The FAA says it received a report that the bearings 'could have been installed incorrectly (including being installed without the application of sealant) during production', which could lead to cracking in the bearings and housings and premature failure of the assembly's crank arms and could impact elevator pitch control. It estimates 95 U.S.-registered airplanes are affected, at $1,955 per airplane for the inspection and $185,725 for U.S. operators; replacing a whole assembly would cost an estimated $98,496. The deadline is not in the proposal. It sits in the Boeing bulletin posted in the docket: 126 months, which for airplanes already flying would count from the final rule's effective date, with no repeat inspection. Under the bulletin, a crack or missing sealant must be fixed before further flight. The 737 MAX-7, certified August 3, is not among the airplanes listed. Comments are due November 5, 2026.
Also filed underfaaboeingaviation-safetyairworthiness-directivepublic-comment
This desk has been printing federal deadlines for eleven days without telling anyone where to write. The Register publishes the address itself, and nobody here was reading it.
The forward board at /federal has listed dated federal commitments since September 8 — comment periods still open, rules not yet in force. As of today that is 406 commitments across 84 agencies, 185 of them comment periods a reader could still answer. Every one of those rows was a dead end: the board could say a comment period closes on a date and could not say where to write. The Federal Register resolves the regulations.gov submission form itself and publishes it as a field on every document, and this desk had never read that field. It does now. The board leads with the 16 open comment periods on rules the Register itself marked significant, each with its deadline, its agency, the number of comments already filed, and a link straight to the form. The first version of that count would have been a lie: it printed a reading the Register had last refreshed fourteen days earlier beside one refreshed this morning. Counts now carry the date they were taken.
Also filed underpublic-commentinstrumentstransparency
The annual determination naming the world's drug-producing countries carries its statutory evidence on four pages that were scanned as pictures, so the only part of the document a computer can read is the part with no facts in it.
Presidential Determination 2026-23, signed September 11 and published September 18, names 23 major drug transit or drug producing countries and designates four of them — Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma and Colombia — as having failed demonstrably to meet their counternarcotics obligations. Three of the four get a national-interest waiver keeping their U.S. assistance; Afghanistan does not. Venezuela, decertified last year, is not decertified this year. The determination's own text contains no cultivation figures, no seizure volumes and no overdose numbers. Every number in the document sits in the four memoranda of justification that section 706 requires, and those four pages were published as scanned images: the Federal Register's text version prints them as 'GRAPHIC, TIFF OMITTED' and the PDF has no text layer for them. Afghanistan's justification, the one country denied a waiver, contains no figure of any kind.
Also filed underpresidential-determinationdrug-policyforeign-assistancetransparency
From October 19, ten kinds of airline delay stop counting as the airline's fault in federal statistics, including unscheduled maintenance and medical emergencies. DOT's own rule says passengers will be offered fewer meals, hotels and credits as a result.
A Transportation Department rule published September 3 takes effect October 19. It creates a new 'Section 511(b)' category in the monthly delay and cancellation reports airlines file, and moves ten causes out of the 'Air Carrier' category into it: among them unscheduled maintenance, a passenger medical emergency, removing an unruly passenger, cleaning after a passenger's death, cyberattacks and some government system failures. Congress required the change in the 2024 FAA reauthorization. The rule says that because airlines promise meals, hotels and sometimes compensation only for delays they control, 'the number of delays and cancellations for which air carriers provide amenities and compensation to consumers is expected to be reduced', and calls it 'a transfer of value from consumers back to air carriers'. It does not say how many flights are affected, and it says nothing about cash refunds for cancelled flights.
Also filed underdotairlinesair-travelconsumer-protectionflight-delays
EPA and the Army Corps are weighing a Clean Water Act test that would cover only water flowing every day of the year. Their own notice says most intermittent streams and most wetlands now protected would fall outside it. Comments close October 9.
On September 9 the EPA and the Army Corps published a supplemental proposal to their pending rewrite of which 'waters of the United States' the Clean Water Act covers. The new option would define 'relatively permanent' as perennial, water standing or flowing every day of the year in ordinary conditions, allowing only one dry spell of up to 30 days a year. Wetlands would be covered only where perennial surface water makes them hard to tell apart from a covered water. The agencies write that most intermittent streams would not qualify and that 'the majority of wetlands' jurisdictional under current rules would not either, with 'a significant reduction in federally jurisdictional waters' in the arid West. They give no acreage or mileage estimates. Public comments are due October 9, 2026, in docket EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0322.
Also filed underepaarmy-corpsclean-water-actwetlandswotuspublic-comment
The Forest Service has proposed repealing the 2001 Roadless Rule, which protects 58.5 million acres of national forest from most road building and logging. Public comments close October 6, and more than 219,000 have already been filed.
The Agriculture Department proposed on August 20 to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which bars most road construction and timber cutting on 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas in the national forests. On September 11 it extended the comment deadline 15 days, to October 6, 2026. The stated reasons are wildfire risk, insect and disease outbreaks, and returning decisions to local forest officials. The agency's own analysis says permanent roads would become possible on about 18.2 million acres where forest plans allow them, that sawtimber harvest could rise 5 to 10 percent if every eligible area were cut (which it calls unlikely), and that its effects could exceed $100 million. It says the repeal 'does not mandate timber cutting or road construction.' Idaho's and Colorado's state roadless rules would stay in place. Most tribal governments consulted oppose it.
Also filed underusdaforest-servicepublic-landsroadless-rulewildfirepublic-comment
Social Security's rules for qualifying for disability with a heart condition change on October 30, for new claims and for claims already pending. Three conditions get their own listing for the first time, and SSA expects the change to raise benefit payments by $540 million over ten years.
The Social Security Administration published revised criteria for evaluating cardiovascular disorders on July 2, 2026, the first full revision since 2006, and they take effect October 30, 2026. They apply to new applications, to claims still pending on that date, and to continuing disability reviews. The rule adds listings for aortic valve disease, cardiomyopathy and cardiac allograft vasculopathy, updates heart failure to current medical terms and thresholds, adds a new invasive measure for ischemic heart disease, and removes the separate listing for children's rheumatic heart disease. SSA estimates net increases of $446 million in Social Security disability benefits and $94 million in SSI over fiscal years 2026 to 2035. A September 16 correction fixed a heading number and changed nothing else. Not meeting a listing does not end a claim: SSA says it does 'not deny any claim solely' on that basis.
Also filed undersocial-securitydisabilityssiheart-diseasebenefits
From November 16, states must hand confidential unemployment records to federal officials on request for oversight and audits. Labor declined commenters' requests to bar immigration-enforcement use, to notify claimants, or to list which data is covered.
A Labor Department final rule published September 16 and effective November 16, 2026 turns an optional disclosure into a required one: every state unemployment agency must give 'confidential UC information' to a federal official who asks for it for unemployment program oversight and audits. The Labor Department, its inspector general and GAO can ask without explanation; other federal officials must ask in writing, state the use and cite their authority. The department says it is fighting fraud, citing $45.6 billion in potentially fraudulent benefits identified by its inspector general. It did not list which data elements are covered, did not define 'Federal official', declined a proposed ban on immigration-enforcement use, and adds no notice to claimants. It says the rule creates no new uses and no national claims database, and that it does not reach eligibility decisions. States that must change their own laws have until September 16, 2027.
Also filed underlabor-departmentunemployment-insuranceprivacydata-sharing
The Energy Department says its 2022 energy-efficiency standards for manufactured homes now have 'no legal effect' and will not be enforced. A July housing law moved that job to HUD, which has one year to set standards and has not yet.
In a one-page notice published September 18, the Department of Energy said its May 31, 2022 final rule setting energy conservation standards for manufactured homes 'has no legal effect' and that it 'will not enforce' them. The reason is the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, signed July 11, 2026, which says no federal energy-efficiency standard for manufactured homes has legal effect until the Department of Housing and Urban Development adopts it through its own consensus process. The law gives HUD one year, to July 2027, to adopt minimum standards and requires updates every three years. HUD has adopted none yet. DOE says it will write a rule to conform its regulations. The notice gives no estimate of the effect on home prices or energy bills and has no comment period.
Also filed underenergy-departmenthudmanufactured-housingenergy-efficiencyaffordable-housing
An executive order signed September 8 gives the Pentagon 30 days to start handing veterans' records to the VA the day they leave service, and 180 days to build AI tools for benefit claims. It carries no money, no staffing and no way to tell whether the deadlines were met.
Executive Order 14426, signed September 8 and published September 11, sets three deadlines. Within 30 days, military personnel files, health records and service treatment records must go to the VA immediately when a service member is discharged. Within 120 days, IT contracts must be reviewed and future ones must require interoperability between the two departments' records systems. Within 180 days, the departments must build permanent record-sharing systems and deploy 'new digital tools using artificial intelligence and other emerging capabilities' for benefit applications, and the Transition Assistance Program must connect every departing service member either to an open job or to training. The order contains no dollar figure, no staffing number, no claims-backlog figure, no metric and no report to anyone. It is expressly contingent on 'the availability of appropriations' and creates no enforceable right.
Also filed underveteransexecutive-ordervadefenseai
A drafting error in August's layoff rule deleted the two paragraphs that say when a federal worker counts as 'displaced'. For 13 days the definition that governs their priority for other jobs had no criteria under it. OPM restored the text on September 15.
OPM's reduction-in-force rule, effective September 2, carried an amendatory instruction that told the code to replace all of paragraph (1) of the definition of 'displaced' but supplied only its opening line. The effect was to delete the two subparagraphs that say who qualifies: an employee who got a RIF separation notice, or one facing removal for refusing a directed move out of their commuting area. That definition governs who gets priority consideration for other federal jobs under the career transition program. A correcting amendment published September 15 restored the text, effective immediately, and says it makes no substantive change. It does not say how the error was found, whether any case was decided under the truncated definition during the 13 days, or what happens if one was. Two other OPM rules landed the same week: shared hiring certificates, effective October 15 with comments to November 16, and a proposal on excepted-service employment, comments to November 17.
Also filed underopmfederal-workforcereduction-in-forcerulemaking
Two executive orders on beef: one tells USDA to expand investigations of meatpackers and report back in 60 days, the other opens the door to mandatory country-of-origin labeling and to delisting the gray wolf. Neither carries a dollar.
Executive Orders 14424 and 14425, both signed September 4 and published September 10, address cattle. The first directs the Agriculture Secretary to prioritize and expand Packers and Stockyards Act investigations of meatpackers, increase staffing in three USDA offices, coordinate with the Justice Department under a 2025 memorandum, and report to the President within 60 days; it also promises a guaranteed loan program for small and regional beef processors, with no amount and no date. The second orders a 90-day review that may lead to mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef, directs Interior to decide whether the gray wolf and Mexican wolf have met recovery criteria for delisting, and tells every agency to make sure the measures reach consumers 'in the form of lower prices'. It states that the national cattle herd is at a 75-year low while beef demand has risen almost 10 percent in a decade, without sourcing either figure. Neither order creates an enforceable right.
Also filed underexecutive-orderagriculturebeefranchersantitrustendangered-species
An executive order gives the Interior Secretary the Defense Production Act's energy powers alongside Energy and Commerce, sends their disputes to the National Energy Dominance Council, and quietly drops a limit that had reserved one finding to the Energy Secretary.
Executive Order 14427, signed September 8 and published September 11, amends the 2012 order that delegates the President's Defense Production Act authorities. It adds the Secretary of the Interior alongside the Secretary of Energy for 'all forms of energy under their purview', each able to act independently, and alongside Commerce and Energy for the authority to prioritize and allocate materials to maximize domestic energy supplies. Disagreements between two secretaries over energy now go first to the National Energy Dominance Council, or to that council and the National Security Council together when national defense infrastructure or military operations are involved. In rewriting one section, the order also removes a limit that had reserved findings about 'critical and essential' materials to the Energy Secretary; it does not mention doing so. The order gives no reason for any of the changes, sets no deadline, touches none of the act's purchase or loan authorities, and creates no enforceable right.
Also filed underexecutive-orderdefense-production-actenergyinterior
There are 191 federal comment windows open right now. Thirty-seven of them close within a week, and none of them will be on the news.
This desk keeps a standing sweep of dated federal commitments. Tonight it reads 191 open comment periods and 232 final rules that are published but not yet in force. Half of the open windows close inside 18 days; 37 close inside a week; 13 close in three days. Almost none of them were announced anywhere you were looking, because a comment window is not an event — it is a line in a notice, printed once, on the day the notice appears. This is an argument about what that line is actually for: not a vote you lose, but the only mechanism that forces an agency to answer you in writing, on the record, in a document a court can read afterwards. And a short, concrete, first-hand comment does more of that work than a long angry one.
Also filed undermethodcomment-deadlinerulemakingcivic
EPA finished repealing most of the 2024 power plant carbon rules and, the same day and in the same docket, proposed erasing the rest. One of those is closed to you. The other closes November 2.
The Federal Register issue dated September 17 carries two EPA documents with one docket number between them. The first is a final rule: it repeals most of the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants, takes effect November 16, and the agency says it is not reopening it. The second is a supplemental proposal arguing that the Clean Air Act does not authorize EPA to regulate power plant emissions for climate reasons at all — which would rescind the 2015 findings and repeal every remaining greenhouse gas standard for the source category. Comments on the second close November 2; a virtual hearing is October 1; the last day to register to speak is September 29, and each speaker gets four minutes. EPA puts the compliance cost savings of the finished repeal at $160 billion present value at a 3% discount rate and $95 billion at 7%, and states in the same table that it has not monetized the health and welfare impacts of the emission changes.
Also filed underepaclean-air-actrulemakingcomment-deadlinepower-plants
Every public record has three dates, and the one printed at the top is usually the least useful.
A document carries the date it was printed. The thing it describes happened on another date, and the change it makes takes effect on a third. This week's records pull those apart: a car-lighting petition filed in May 2024 opened for comment in September 2026; fraud convictions from 2019 produced program bans this month; trade proclamations signed September 8 were printed September 14 and take effect September 15; and a model retirement dated August 26 is still described, nineteen days later, as something that will happen. Readers who carry one date carry the wrong one. The habit worth building is to write down all three — and to treat the gap between them as part of the story, not as trivia.
Also filed undermethoddatesdated-termspublic-records
Two federal notices printed last week record things that happened years ago: a recall petition from 2024, and fraud convictions from 2019.
On September 11 the Federal Register published a General Motors petition asking to be excused from recalling about 10,241 model-year 2024 Cadillac XT4, Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon vehicles whose taillamps do not light with the parking lamps in one switch position. GM filed that petition on May 17, 2024; the public comment window it opens closes October 13, 2026. The same day's Register carried seven FCC notices barring people from the E-Rate school-internet subsidy for three years, for fraud convictions dated between 2019 and 2022. The FCC's letters point to new rules adopted on March 26, 2026. Neither document says why the gap was as long as it was.
Also filed undernhtsarecallsgeneral-motorsfcce-ratedebarmentfraudpublic-commentdated-terms
Five Canada trade proclamations reached the Federal Register today. Three turn a 50% duty into an import ban on September 29; two change what the duty covers from tomorrow.
Proclamations 11061, 11062 and 11063, signed September 8 and published in the Federal Register on September 14, exclude certain Canadian alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motor-vehicle products from import into the United States for goods imported on or after 12:01 a.m. Eastern on September 29, 2026. Those products already carry a 50% duty under three July 20 proclamations. Two further proclamations, 11064 and 11065, change which alcohol and vehicle products carry that duty from 12:01 a.m. Eastern on September 15 — adding some products and removing others. The lists that say which products are affected are printed only as images in the Federal Register's text edition, so this record cannot yet tell a reader whether a specific product is covered.
Also filed undertradetariffscanadaproclamationsimportsdated-terms
A judge gave the Education Department until September 11 to explain its new college admissions data collection. The explanation is published — including a 200-hour-per-school burden estimate.
In Massachusetts v. U.S. Department of Education, the federal court in Massachusetts granted the Department's motion to remand its Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement — a new component of the federal college data system, IPEDS — without vacating it, and ordered any supplemental explanation filed no later than September 11, 2026. The Department's revised explanation was published in the Federal Register on September 14. It defends collecting admissions data broken out by race-sex pair and by admissions test score quintile as central to the collection's purpose, and it estimates the work for each institution at 200 hours, against 6 to 9 hours for most other components of the same system. Whether the court accepts the explanation is not yet known.
Also filed undereducationipedsadmissionscourtsdata-collection
DHS proposes taking away the 60 days a laid-off H-1B worker has to find a new job. Comments close November 10.
The Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule on September 11 that would remove the discretionary grace period of up to 60 days that workers in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 and TN status currently get after their employment ends. Without it, the proposal would require a worker to depart the United States immediately upon failing to maintain the employment. DHS's own analysis says some workers may lose income and some may be issued Notices to Appear, and it offers a qualitative assessment rather than a count of the people affected. Nothing has changed yet: this is a proposal, the current rule still applies, and written comments are open until November 10, 2026.
Also filed underdhsuscisimmigrationh-1brulemakingcomment-period
August 27: 1,443 federal rules were proposed, took public comment, and then produced nothing. Nobody was counting.
A proposed rule names the day its comment period closes. The public writes in. Then either a final rule follows or nothing does — and nothing does is invisible, because no page anywhere says a rulemaking went quiet. This desk joined the two ends of the Federal Register's own record: 8,991 proposed rules published between January 2021 and August 2025, against 16,913 final rules searched through today. Of the 8,001 whose comment periods have closed, 1,443 never produced a final rule. The longest has been silent 4,220 days. Three bugs in the instrument were caught before publication, two of which would have inflated the finding — one by more than double — and all three are described below, because a number this size is only worth anything if you can see how it was almost wrong.
Also filed underfederalrulemakingaccountabilityinstrumentsprimary-sourceevidence-posturemethod
A record appears here because it carries federal-register in its own tags. If a record you expected is missing, it was filed under a different subject — the full list is on the topics index.