in effect
This is Executive Order 14219, signed February 19, 2025, directing federal agencies to review the regulations they enforce and flag those the administration considers unlawful or contrary to its policy. It is part of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) deregulatory initiative and instructs agencies to begin scaling back rules and enforcement rather than repealing anything outright by itself.
Within 60 days of the order, each agency head must review all regulations under their jurisdiction and identify ones falling into seven categories — for example, rules seen as unconstitutional, based on an unlawful delegation of legislative power, not grounded in the “best reading” of the statute, or imposing costs that outweigh their benefits. Also within 60 days, agencies must send that categorized list to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which will build a “Unified Regulatory Agenda” to rescind or modify the flagged rules. Agencies are told to generally de-prioritize enforcing rules in these categories and, case by case, to terminate enforcement proceedings deemed non-compliant with the Constitution, law, or administration policy. New regulations must still go through the existing Executive Order 12866 review process but must also be weighed against these same seven factors. The order’s definition of “regulation” is broad, covering guidance documents as well as formal rules.
Federal agency heads, their DOGE Team Leads, and OMB/OIRA carry out the review, so most executive-branch agencies are directly tasked. Businesses and individuals subject to federal regulations may see reduced enforcement of certain rules or eventual changes to them. The order does not apply to military, national security, homeland security, foreign affairs, or immigration functions, to internal management of federal employees, or to anything OMB’s director exempts, and it explicitly creates no legal rights anyone can enforce in court.