Notice2025-11216
Guidance on Referrals for Potential Criminal Enforcement
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
June 18, 2025
Issuing agencies
Railroad Retirement Board
Abstract
This notice describes the Railroad Retirement Board's plans to address criminally liable regulatory offenses under the recent executive order on Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 116 (Wednesday, June 18, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 116 (Wednesday, June 18, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26072-26073]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-11216]
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RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
Guidance on Referrals for Potential Criminal Enforcement
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice describes the Railroad Retirement Board's plans to
address criminally liable regulatory offenses under the recent
executive order on Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter J. Orlowicz, Senior Counsel,
Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, IL 60611-
1275, (312) 751-4922.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 9, 2025, the President issued
Executive Order (``E.O.'') 14294, Fighting Overcriminalization in
Federal Regulations. 90 FR 20363 (published May 14, 2025). Section 7 of
E.O. 14294 provides that within 45 days of the order, and in
consultation with the Attorney General, each agency should publish
guidance in the Federal Register describing its plan to address
criminally liable regulatory offenses.
Consistent with that requirement, the Board advises the public that
by May 9, 2026, the Board, in consultation with the Attorney General,
will provide to the Director of the Office of
[[Page 26073]]
Management and Budget (``OMB'') a report containing: (1) a list of all
criminal regulatory offenses \1\ enforceable by the Board or the
Department of Justice (``DOJ''); and (2) for each such criminal
regulatory offense, the range of potential criminal penalties for a
violation and the applicable mens rea standard \2\ for the criminal
regulatory offense.
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\1\ ``Criminal regulatory offense'' means a Federal regulation
that is enforceable by a criminal penalty. E.O. 14294, sec. 3(b).
\2\ ``Mens rea'' means the state of mind that by law must be
proven to convict a particular defendant of a particular crime. E.O.
14294, sec. 3(c).
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This notice also announces a general policy, subject to appropriate
exceptions and to the extent consistent with law, that when the Board
is deciding whether to refer alleged violations of criminal regulatory
offenses to DOJ, officers and employees of the Board should consider,
among other factors:
<bullet> the harm or risk of harm, pecuniary or otherwise, caused
by the alleged offense;
<bullet> the potential gain to the putative defendant that could
result from the offense;
<bullet> whether the putative defendant held specialized knowledge,
expertise, or was licensed in an industry related to the rule or
regulation at issue; and
<bullet> evidence, if any is available, of the putative defendant's
general awareness of the unlawfulness of his conduct as well as his
knowledge or lack thereof of the regulation at issue.
Based on an initial review of Board regulations, the Board has not
identified any criminal regulatory offenses enforceable by the Board.
In some cases, the Board restates statutory penalties provided by the
Railroad Retirement Act or references ``applicable law'' without
defining an enforceable criminal regulatory offense. As a result, the
Board does not anticipate any referrals of alleged violations to DOJ or
enactment of new criminal regulatory offenses in the foreseeable
future.
This general policy is not intended to, and does not, create any
right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in
equity by any party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other
person.
Dated: June 16, 2025.
By Authority of the Board.
Stephanie Hillyard,
Secretary to the Board.
[FR Doc. 2025-11216 Filed 6-17-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7905-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on June 18, 2025.
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