🔒VA Final Rule on Privacy Act Exemptions for Law Enforcement Evaluations
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adopts as final, with one technical change, a proposed rule to amend its regulations governing the confidentiality and release of VA records subject to the Privacy Act of 1974. This rulemaking exempts portions of the new "Law Enforcement Officer Evaluations (LEO Evals)--VA" (216VA10) system of records from certain provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 to prevent compromising the objectivity and fairness of the testing and evaluation process.
Learn More📊Final Rule on Senior Executive Service Performance Evaluations
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing this final rule to remove the prohibition of a forced distribution of performance rating levels within the Senior Executive Service (SES) as well as eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) language within SES performance management regulations. Governmentwide SES ratings data have consistently shown that most SES receive the highest rating levels (i.e., Levels 4 and 5) despite documented reports of SES failings. Allowing agencies to limit the highest SES rating levels will increase rigor in SES appraisal and lead to a more normalized distribution of SES ratings across the Federal Government.
Learn More💼Abolishment of Hennepin, MN NAF Wage Area
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a final rule to abolish the Hennepin, Minnesota, nonappropriated fund (NAF) Federal Wage System (FWS) wage area and define most of its counties to the nearest NAF FWS wage areas. Those counties without NAF FWS employment would no longer be defined to a NAF wage area. These changes are necessary because NAF FWS employment in the survey area has been declining, and the local activities no longer have the capability to conduct local wage surveys. This rule also makes correcting amendments related to four prior final rules revising other NAF FWS wage areas.
Learn More📋New Merit-Based Hiring Regulations Impact Federal Employment Practices
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing this final rule to implement changes authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019 governing the selection of candidates from competitive lists of eligibles. These changes are meant to encourage the use of rigorous, merit-based candidate rankings when hiring in the competitive and excepted service. They also provide expanded flexibility to agencies in the selection of candidates under delegated examining procedures. These changes also affect how agencies select candidates for excepted service appointments.
Learn More📜HHS Revises Standards of Conduct for Employees and Ethics
The Department of Health and Human Services (Department or HHS) is revising and reissuing the Standards of Conduct, a set of substantive and procedural rules relating to conduct and employee responsibilities that augment the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, the Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Supplemental Financial Disclosure Requirements for Employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Employee Responsibilities and Conduct Regulation, and the Executive Branch Financial Disclosure regulations. The Department is removing provisions that have been superseded by these regulations or are otherwise obsolete or unnecessary to efficient administration. This final rule addresses conduct on Federal Government (Government) property and the use of Government funds or official information; restates existing standards for workplace courtesy; specifies rules for acceptance of gifts, travel, and employment from foreign governments and other non- Federal entities; provides notice of disciplinary actions available to address violations and prescribes the continuing employee obligation to report violations of rules or law to appropriate authorities. This revision adds a new section addressing Counter-Trafficking in Persons requirements in response to the Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-348). The rule also continues and delineates restrictions on the political activity of commissioned officers of the United States Public Health Service, a category of employees not covered by the Hatch Act Reform Amendments of 1993, as amended.
Learn More📃Regulations on Public Disclosure of Delinquent Debtors
The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA) authorizes Federal agencies to publicly disseminate information regarding the identity of persons owing delinquent nontax debts to the United States for the purpose of collecting the debts. The Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service), proposes to promulgate this rule to establish the minimum procedures Federal agencies must follow prior to publicly disseminating information regarding the identity of delinquent debtors and the standards for determining when use of this debt collection tool is appropriate.
Learn More✈️User Fee Amendment for Agricultural Quarantine Inspection Services
On May 7, 2024, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service published in the Federal Register a final rule amending the user fee regulations associated with the agricultural quarantine and inspection (AQI) program. The final rule went into effect on October 1, 2024, with the exception of the removal of an exemption from paying the AQI user fee for commercial aircraft with 64 or fewer seats meeting certain conditions. The removal of the exemption would have taken effect on April 1, 2025. On March 21, 2025, we published a notice in the Federal Register delaying the effective date of the removal of the exemption from paying the AQI user fee for small commercial passenger aircraft, until June 2, 2025, and requesting information. As a result of the comments we received on that notice, we decided to delay implementation of the removal of the exemption indefinitely. However, as a result of an editorial error, the exemption had already been removed from the regulations. In this document, we are amending the regulations to restore the exemption from paying the AQI user fee for commercial aircraft with 64 or fewer seats meeting certain conditions.
Learn More⚖️Department of Defense Rule Change on Gender Terminology in Litigation
In accordance with the Executive Order titled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," this amendment rule removes text in this CFR part that promotes or otherwise inculcates gender ideology. This change is purely administrative.
Learn More🛢️Final Rule on Oil and Gas Leasing Definitions by BLM
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is amending its rules governing oil and gas leasing to effectuate changes to the definitions for "eligible" and "available" as required by the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBB) enacted on July 4, 2025.
Learn More🌍Regulatory Update
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is amending its rules governing fees for expressions of interest (EOI) to effectuate changes required by the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBB) enacted on July 4, 2025.
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