Rule2025-12234
Rescinding Unnecessary Notice and Comment Procedures
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
July 1, 2025
Effective
July 31, 2025
Issuing agencies
Labor Department
Abstract
This final rule rescinds the Secretary's policy to engage in notice and comment rulemaking, even where the Administrative Procedure Act does not require notice and comment rulemaking. The result of this final rule is the Department will generally follow the default requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 124 (Tuesday, July 1, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 1, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 27995-27996]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-12234]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
29 CFR Part 2
RIN 1290-AA51
Rescinding Unnecessary Notice and Comment Procedures
AGENCY: Office of Secretary of Labor, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: This final rule rescinds the Secretary's policy to engage in
notice and comment rulemaking, even where the Administrative Procedure
Act does not require notice and comment rulemaking. The result of this
final rule is the Department will generally follow the default
requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.
DATES: The final rule is effective July 31, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sheng Li, Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S.
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210;
telephone: (202) 693-2848 (this is not a toll-free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) generally requires, before
an agency promulgates a regulation, a ``notice of proposed rule
making'' to be published in the Federal Register. 5 U.S.C. 553(b). The
agency then must ``give interested persons an opportunity to
participate in the rule making through submission of written data,
views, or arguments with or without opportunity for oral
presentation.'' 5 U.S.C. 553(c). These strictures, however, do not
apply to matters ``relating to agency management or personnel or to
public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts.'' 5 U.S.C.
553(a)(2).
In 1971, DOL adopted a policy that waived the APA's statutory
exemption procedural rulemaking requirements for rules and regulations
relating to public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts.
Responding to Recommendation No. 16 of the Administrative Conference of
the U.S., DOL promulgated regulations at Title 29 Part 2 in 1971,
waiving the exemption provided for public property, loans, grants,
benefits or contracts as a reason for not complying with notice and
public participation requirements (36 FR 12976.). This rule was
subsequently amended by 45 FR 34-01 to clarify that certain activities
of the Bureau of Labor Statistics were not covered by the waiver of the
exemption. 45
Section 2.7 of Part 2 of Title 29 states: ``It is the policy of the
Secretary of Labor, that in applying the rulemaking provisions of the
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553), the exemption therein for
matters relating to public property, loans, grants, benefits or
contracts shall not be relied upon as a reason for not complying with
the notice and public participation requirements thereof except for all
information-gathering procedures adopted by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.''
II. Discussion
The Secretary has decided to rescind the policy in Section 2.7, and
return to the text of the APA. Upon reconsideration, the Secretary has
decided that additional public comment and procedures are generally
unnecessary for matters relating to public property, loans, grants,
benefits, and contracts. These are matters that the Department has
great discretion to deal with, and public notice for these matters is
not the best use of agency resources. Agencies and offices of the
Department will continue to comply with the APA's notice and comment
requirements where required and otherwise have discretion to seek
public input through whatever means they determine appropriate.
Ossification in the Department is a serious problem, and self-imposed
bureaucracy plays a role. The Department has a new policy of acting
more nimbly in response to changing circumstances and this rescission
will allow just that.
This final rule need not be submitted for public comment, as it a
general statement of policy, and a rule of agency organization,
procedure, and practice. See 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A). Likewise, this rule is
effective immediately because it a statement of policy, and a non-
substantive rule. See 5 U.S.C. 553(d).
III. Procedural Issues and Regulatory Review
A. Review Under Executive Orders 12866
Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,''
58 FR 51735 (Oct. 4, 1993), requires agencies to submit ``significant
regulatory actions'' to OIRA for review. OIRA has determined that this
final rule constitute a ``significant regulatory action'' under section
3(f) of E.O. 12866. Agencies are further required, to the extent
permitted by law, to (1) propose or adopt a regulation only upon a
reasoned determination that its benefits justify its costs (recognizing
that some benefits and costs are difficult to quantify); (2) tailor
regulations to impose the least burden on society, consistent with
obtaining regulatory objectives, taking into account, among other
things, and to the extent practicable, the costs of cumulative
regulations; (3) select, in choosing among alternative regulatory
approaches, those approaches that maximize net benefits; (4) to the
extent feasible, specify performance objectives, rather than specifying
the behavior or manner of compliance that regulated entities must
adopt; and (5) identify and assess available alternatives to direct
regulation, including providing economic incentives to encourage the
desired behavior, such as user fees or marketable permits, or providing
information upon which choices can be made by the public.
This rule rescinds 29 CFR 2.7, a Departmental policy that
voluntarily imposed APA notice-and-comment procedures even where such
procedures were not legally required. The rescission returns the
Department to the default rulemaking requirements of the APA (5 U.S.C.
553), which explicitly exempts certain categories--such as public
grants, benefits, and contracts--from notice-and-comment obligations.
The action aligns internal procedure with the statutory baseline and
eliminates the Department's self-imposed procedural burden.
The principal benefit of the rule is to increase regulatory
efficiency and responsiveness by removing unnecessary internal
requirements that can slow administrative action. Specifically, this
rule:
<bullet> Reduces internal ossification and administrative delay by
streamlining decision-making for programs relating to public property,
loans, grants, benefits, or contracts.
<bullet> Conserves staff time and Departmental resources that would
otherwise be devoted to preparing, publishing, and responding to public
comments where not legally required.
<bullet> Enhances agility in responding to evolving programmatic or
operational needs in areas where Congress has given the Department
broad discretion.
While the benefits are primarily institutional and qualitative in
nature
[[Page 27996]]
and difficult to quantify, they are expected to result in meaningful
reductions in transaction costs and time burdens across affected
offices.
This rule does not impose new costs on, or the government. To the
contrary, it reduces compliance burdens within the Department by
eliminating a Department-wide policy requirement that had extended
procedural obligations beyond what the APA mandates. There are no
anticipated economic costs (the value to the public and regulated
entities of the notice-and-comment process is implied by their
voluntary submission of comments), although, and the rule does not
mandate any actions from external stakeholders. The Department has
considered maintaining the current policy or replacing it with a
narrower procedural commitment (e.g., limiting it to certain programs).
However, such options would maintain procedural rigidity and potential
confusion. The rescission offers a clearer legal and operational
baseline. The Department has determined that net benefits are positive,
consisting of cost savings, efficiency gains, and improved flexibility,
with no material offsetting costs.
B. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) requires
preparation of a final regulatory flexibility analysis (FRFA) for any
rule that by law must be proposed for public comment, unless the agency
certifies that the rule, if promulgated, will not have a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. This rule
was not required to be proposed for public comment, so no FRFA was
warranted.
C. Review Under the Paperwork Reduction Act
This rescission imposes no new information or record-keeping
requirements governed by the Paperwork Reduction Act. (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.).
D. Review Under Executive Order 13132
E.O. 13132, ``Federalism,'' 64 FR 43255 (August 10, 1999), imposes
certain requirements on Federal agencies formulating and implementing
policies or regulations that preempt State law or that have federalism
implications. The Executive order requires agencies to examine the
constitutional and statutory authority supporting any action that would
limit the policymaking discretion of the States and to carefully assess
the necessity for such actions. The Executive order also requires
agencies to have an accountable process to ensure meaningful and timely
input by State and local officials in the development of regulatory
policies that have federalism implications.
DOL has examined this rescission and has determined that it would
not have a substantial direct effect on the States, on the relationship
between the national government and the States, or on the distribution
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government.
E. Review Under Executive Order 12630
Pursuant to E.O. 12630, ``Governmental Actions and Interference
with Constitutionally Protected Property Rights,'' 53 FR 8859 (March
18, 1988), DOL has determined that this rescission would not result in
any takings that might require compensation under the Fifth Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution.
F. Review Under the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act,
2001
Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations
Act, 2001 (44 U.S.C. 3516, note) provides for Federal agencies to
review most disseminations of information to the public under
information quality guidelines established by each agency pursuant to
general guidelines issued by OMB. OMB's guidelines were published at 67
FR 8452 (Feb. 22, 2002). DOL has reviewed this rescission under the OMB
and has concluded that it is consistent with applicable policies in
those guidelines.
G. Review Under Additional Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda
DOL has examined this rescission and has determined that it is
consistent with the policies and directives outlined in E.O. 14154,
``Unleashing American Energy,'' E.O. 14192, ``Unleashing Prosperity
Through Deregulation,'' and Presidential Memorandum, ``Delivering
Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-
Living Crisis.'' This rescission is expected to be an Executive Order
14192 deregulatory action. The Department has identified fewer than ten
actions covered by Section 2.7 that might have been covered by this
rescission over the last ten years. Each of the actions received
little-to-no public comment.\1\ Therefore, soliciting public comments
delayed implementation of updated policies and procedures without
producing the benefit of significant meaningful public input.
Soliciting public comment also diverted Departmental resources away
from other, potentially more impactful, projects.
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\1\ The Department did not identify any actions that received
more than four public comments. Multiple actions received no public
comments at all.
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H. Congressional Notification
As required by 5 U.S.C. 801, DOL will report to Congress on the
promulgation of this rule before its effective date. The report will
state that it has been determined that the rule is not a ``major rule''
as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 2
Agency procedure; Public property; Grants; Contracts; Loans;
Grants; Benefits.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, DOL amends part 2 of
title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as set forth below:
PART 2--GENERAL REGULATIONS
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1. The authority citation for part 2 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; E.O. 13198, 66 FR 8497, 3 CFR, 2001
Comp., p. 750; E.O. 13279, 67 FR 77141, 3 CFR, 2002 Comp., p. 258;
E.O. 13559, 75 FR 71319, 3 CFR, 2010 Comp., p. 273; E.O. 14015, 86
FR 10007, 3 CFR, 2021 Comp., p. 517.
Sec. 2.7 [Removed and Reserved]
0
2. Remove and reserve Sec. 2.7.
Signed: June 26, 2025.
Keith Sonderling,
Deputy Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2025-12234 Filed 6-30-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FP-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on July 1, 2025.
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