Freeze on New Federal Regulations – Including the Final Rule!

January 27, 2017

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus issued a memorandum to all executive departments and agencies to freeze new or pending regulations -- giving the new administration time to review them. Any regulations that have yet to be sent for publishing in the Federal Register, the memo asks the agency to not send any regulation to the Federal Register until reviewed by someone selected by the President.
 
For those that have been sent but not published, the White House ordered the regulations withdrawn. 
 
There are regulations have been published but have not reached their effective date. The memo instructs those regulations to be delayed for 60 days for review -- with a potential that a new notice for reopening the regulation could occur.
 
The memo makes an exception for "critical health, safety, financial, or national security matters," and asks agencies to identify any regulations that can't be delayed for other reasons.