The Investigative Journal’s weekly review of federal rulemaking, drawn from the Federal Register, Reginfo.gov, and agency dockets. Every item links to the underlying public record.
It was a consequential week in the Federal Register. The headline action came Wednesday, when the White House published a proclamation imposing new Section 232 tariffs of up to 100 percent on imported drones and drone components. A day later, the Agriculture Department proposed rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule that governs 58.5 million acres of national forest, the Justice Department finalized a pathway for restoring firearm rights, and the Labor Department finalized a rollback of staffing mandates on state employment services. The August 20 issue alone carried 108 documents from 44 agencies, including 12 final rules, 12 proposed rules, and three actions designated significant under Executive Order 12866; the August 19 issue ran 87 documents from 36 agencies. The week’s filings continue the deregulatory posture laid out in the 2026 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, published August 14 and available in full on Reginfo.gov.
1. White House imposes Section 232 tariffs on drones and components
President Trump signed Proclamation 11055, Adjusting Imports of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Unmanned Aircraft Systems Components Into the United States (91 FR 53699, published August 19), following a Commerce Department investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. According to the proclamation, the Commerce Secretary found that imports of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) “threaten to impair the national security,” citing substantial import penetration, dependence on foreign sources for critical components such as motors, speed controllers, and lithium-ion batteries, and software on certain foreign-made drones that “allows data to be sent back to the manufacturer in a foreign country.”
Effective 12:01 a.m. on September 3, 2026, the proclamation sets a 100 percent ad valorem duty on drones with a maximum take-off weight above 25 kilograms, drones that integrate thermal imagers, docking stations, and certain critical components listed in Annex I, and a 25 percent duty on lighter drones listed in Annex II. A 25 percent duty on additional components listed in Annex III takes effect February 9, 2027 — a 180-day delay the document says is intended “to incentivize production onshoring.” The duties stack on top of existing tariffs.
The proclamation caps rates at 15 percent for products of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and EU member states — and 10 percent for the United Kingdom — provided importers certify that substantially all critical components come from allied sources. It also authorizes Commerce to run an onshoring program: companies that commit to building U.S. production facilities before January 20, 2029 may import covered products duty-free while their factories are under construction, subject to monitoring, audits, and retroactive clawbacks if commitments are not met. Products on the Pentagon’s Blue UAS lists and the FCC’s Conditional Approval list receive a 180-day delayed effective date. The full text is in the official PDF on govinfo.gov.
2. USDA proposes rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule — comments due September 21
The Forest Service published a proposed rule (91 FR 53827, RIN 0596-AD66) to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which prohibits road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting across 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas in the National Forest System. According to the notice, the rescission is intended “to reduce regulatory burden and return decisionmaking for the management of inventoried roadless areas” to local Forest Service officials working through individual land management plans.
The Department’s stated rationale is that a single nationwide prohibition has constrained “timely, place-based discretion,” limited vegetation management, and “contributed to the lack of active management of the national forests,” including fuel build-up that complicates wildfire response. The notice also recounts what it calls the rule’s history of “extensive and complex litigation” since 2001. A draft environmental impact statement and a cost-benefit analysis were published simultaneously with the proposal, according to the filing — documents that will be central to any legal challenge if the rescission is finalized.
Comment deadline: September 21, 2026, via Regulations.gov under RIN 0596-AD66.
3. DOJ finalizes process for restoring federal firearm rights
The Justice Department published a final rule (91 FR 54054) establishing criteria for granting relief from federal firearms disabilities under 18 U.S.C. 925(c) — the statute that allows individuals barred from possessing firearms to petition for restoration of that right. Per the rule text, the criteria are designed to ensure the right to keep and bear arms “is not unduly infringed” while ensuring applicants “are not likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety” and that relief is “not contrary to the public interest.”
The rule text notes that beginning in 1992, Congress prohibited ATF from spending appropriated funds to process 925(c) applications, rendering the program dormant for more than three decades. The Department, which has moved the function out of ATF, states in the preamble that those appropriations riders are limited to ATF line items and do not bar the Department itself from processing applications — a legal interpretation some commenters disputed, according to the preamble’s summary of comments. The rule takes effect September 21, 2026, when the Department says it will begin soliciting applications through justice.gov/ffrr. Expect litigation over the appropriations question.
4. Labor Department drops merit-staffing mandate for state employment services
DOL’s Employment and Training Administration published a final rule (91 FR 54024) removing the requirement that states use state merit-system staff to deliver Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service programs. The rule, effective October 19, 2026, lets states choose their own staffing model — including contractors and nonprofit subrecipients — which the Department says “provides the required services with the most efficient and cost-effective model for their State.”
The preamble records support from state agencies and professional associations, which told the Department the change removes unnecessary administrative burden and restores flexibility. Critics quoted in the preamble pointed to oversight risks; one commenter cited a Michigan audit finding that weak onboarding and offboarding practices among pandemic-era contract staff contributed to $3.8 million in unemployment insurance fraud. The Department responds in the rule that transparent subawards, performance-based contracting, and state oversight can address those concerns.
5. Education Department proposes accreditation overhaul — comments due September 21
The Department of Education issued a proposed rule (91 FR 53940) revising the regulations governing federal recognition of college accrediting agencies at 34 CFR part 602. According to the notice, the proposal implements Executive Order 14279, “Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education,” aligns the regulations more closely with the Higher Education Act, and reduces regulatory burden on accreditors. Because accreditation is the gateway to federal student aid, changes here ripple through every Title IV institution in the country. Comment deadline: September 21, 2026.
6. SBA proposes new size standards for 338 industries — comments due September 21
The Small Business Administration proposed new size standards for 338 industry groups and industries (91 FR 53741), which the agency says are “designed to better reflect the nature of the markets in which small businesses compete.” Size standards determine eligibility for SBA loan programs and federal small-business contracting set-asides, so the 44-page proposal deserves close reading from any firm near a threshold. Comment deadline: September 21, 2026.
7. IRS proposes rules on foreign-derived income exclusions — comments due October 5
Treasury and the IRS published proposed regulations under section 250 of the tax code (91 FR 53792) addressing income excluded from “deduction eligible income” — specifically income and gain from sales of intangible property and depreciable, amortizable, or depletable property. The proposal affects domestic corporations claiming the deduction for foreign-derived income, a provision relevant to exporters and IP-heavy multinationals. Comment deadline: October 5, 2026.
8. IRS proposes investment rules for Trump Accounts
A 53-page IRS proposed rule on eligible investments for Trump Accounts was filed for public inspection August 20 and scheduled for publication in Friday’s Federal Register. The guidance would define which investments qualify for the new tax-advantaged children’s savings accounts created by the 2025 tax law. The comment deadline will be set in the published document; families, brokerages, and fund sponsors should watch this docket.
9. CFTC moves to cut duplicative registration requirements
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a 58-page proposed rule, Reduction of Duplicative Regulation Through Intermediary Registration Exemptions; Expansion of the Exemption for Small Commodity Pools, also scheduled for publication Friday. Per the title and filing, the proposal would expand registration exemptions for commodity pool operators and trading advisors — another entry in the administration’s push to trim overlapping financial regulation.
10. USDA proposes scrapping Rural Development construction regulation
Rural Development published a proposed rescission of its construction and repair regulation (91 FR 53540, August 19) — a small but representative example of the agency-by-agency rescission filings appearing weekly in the Register.
On TIJ’s radar
Three items tied to our accountability beats: First, DOJ’s Antitrust Division published the proposed final judgment and competitive impact statement in United States v. CRH plc (91 FR 53633), opening the public comment window that federal law requires before the settlement can be entered — a checkpoint worth watching for how merger remedies are being enforced. Second, the FCC has filed rules on incarcerated people’s communication services implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act, now on public inspection. Third, OSHA has a revision to the cadmium standard for general industry on public inspection — a docket relevant to our manufacturing oversight coverage. We will track all three as they publish.
Comment deadlines this cycle: Roadless Rule rescission, ED accreditation, and SBA size standards — September 21, 2026; IRS section 250 regulations — October 5, 2026. Submissions go through Regulations.gov under the docket numbers linked above.
All items are drawn from the public record as published by the Office of the Federal Register. Where a document is on public inspection but not yet published, we note that status; unpublished drafts can change before official publication.