Editor’s note: The documents cited below were filed with the Office of the Federal Register for publication in the September 11, 2026, edition. Where a document states its deadline as a number of days after publication, we compute the date from the scheduled September 11 publication date; readers should confirm exact dates in the published documents.
Roughly 119 documents from about four dozen agencies were on file for today’s Federal Register, according to the Office of the Federal Register’s public-inspection listings. The headline item is a Federal Communications Commission final rule that closes what the agency describes as a component-level loophole in its national-security equipment rules. Today’s edition also carries two new executive orders, a Department of Homeland Security proposal to end the 60-day grace period for laid-off visa holders, a comment-period extension on the administration’s move to rescind the Roadless Rule, a cluster of Treasury sanctions documents, and two significant IRS tax proposals. Here is what matters and why.
1. FCC bars Covered-List components in authorized devices, puts online marketplaces on notice
The FCC’s Third Report and Order in its long-running communications supply-chain proceeding (ET Docket No. 21-232) prohibits authorization of devices that incorporate “logic-bearing hardware components” produced by entities on the Commission’s national-security Covered List, where the finished device would itself be barred had the listed entity built it outright. According to the order, a compromised logic-bearing component “can enable interception, disruption, sabotage, or unauthorized access regardless of who assembles or brands the finished device.” The rule takes effect 30 days after publication and applies prospectively to new authorization applications.
The order also reaches e-commerce: the FCC states that its marketing rules cover online marketplaces that list unauthorized equipment in combination with services such as warehousing or fulfillment, and it will require marketplaces to display a certified device’s FCC ID at the online point of sale — with compliance dates of March 1, 2027, for marketplaces that hold or take title to inventory and June 1, 2027, for those relying on third-party seller certifications. Covered-List entities must seek full recertification for any equipment modification. Responding to a partial remand from the D.C. Circuit, the Commission also narrowed its definition of “critical infrastructure,” dropping “connected to” language the court had found “unjustifiably broad.”
On economics, the Commission estimates one-time implementation costs of no more than $300 million — largely for marketplace listing systems — and recurring annual costs under $40 million, against security benefits it estimates could exceed $1 billion annually. The full order is posted on the FCC’s website.
2. DHS proposes eliminating the 60-day grace period for nonimmigrant workers
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is proposing to remove 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2), the regulation that gives workers in several employment-based visa categories — including E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 and TN classifications, and their dependents — up to 60 days of lawful status after their employment ends. The 69-page notice of proposed rulemaking (DHS Docket No. USCIS-2026-0364) states that the change would “restore a direct relationship between an alien’s nonimmigrant status and the specific employment or activity that formed the basis of his or her admission” and reduce administrative burden.
If finalized, the proposal would mean that affected workers who lose their jobs would need to depart, change status, or have a new petition filed on their behalf without the discretionary wind-down window on which tech-sector and other skilled workers have relied during layoffs. Comments are due 60 days after publication — November 10, 2026, by our calculation — via regulations.gov.
3. Executive order rewires Defense Production Act energy authorities toward Interior
Executive Order 14427 (Adjusting Certain Delegations Under the Defense Production Act), signed September 8, amends the standing DPA delegation framework in Executive Order 13603 to give the Secretary of the Interior priorities-and-allocations authority over “all forms of energy” alongside the Secretary of Energy, with each empowered to act “independently of the other.” Energy-related disputes between the two departments are now referred in the first instance to the National Energy Dominance Council — or to both that council and the National Security Council, in coordination with the Department of War, where national defense infrastructure or military operations are implicated. The order also delegates DPA section 101(c) authorities to the Secretaries of the Interior, Commerce, and Energy. The amendments strike language that had assigned energy-related authorities to the Energy Secretary under the 2012 framework — a further elevation, the text indicates, of Interior’s role in energy-security decision-making.
4. Second order directs Pentagon-VA records overhaul and veteran job pipeline
Executive Order 14426 (Accelerating Access to Veterans’ Benefits and Employment Opportunities), also signed September 8, directs the Department of War and the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish, within 180 days, systems for permanent and ongoing sharing of military personnel files and service treatment records, and — within 30 days — to ensure records transfer to the VA immediately upon a service member’s discharge. The order calls for “new digital tools using artificial intelligence” to consolidate benefits applications into a single source, requires interoperability clauses in records-system contracts, and instructs the agencies to connect separating service members to specific open jobs or training programs before they leave active duty. Implementation costs and timelines will bear watching; the order sets deadlines but is subject to appropriations.
5. Roadless Rule rescission: comment period extended to October 6
The Forest Service is extending by 15 days the comment period on its August 20 proposal (91 FR 53827) to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule by removing 36 CFR part 294, subpart B — one of the administration’s most consequential public-lands rulemakings. Comments on the proposed rescission, its draft environmental impact statement, and the accompanying cost-benefit analysis are now due October 6, 2026, through regulations.gov (RIN 0596-AD66). Filings indicate the original deadline was September 21; the Department says the extension responds to requests for additional review time.
6. Coinbase Derivatives, Kalshi and Bitnomial register as national securities exchanges
In three parallel notices dated September 8, the Securities and Exchange Commission acknowledged receipt of Form 1-N filings from Coinbase Derivatives, LLC, KalshiEX LLC, and Bitnomial Exchange, LLC — registrations as national securities exchanges under section 6(g) of the Exchange Act, limited to trading security futures products. According to the notices, such registrations become effective upon filing; Coinbase Derivatives filed on September 1. The filings mark a notable formal step by CFTC-designated crypto and event-contract venues into SEC-registered exchange status, and a regulatory perimeter worth monitoring as security-futures products develop.
7. Treasury sanctions cluster: Iran wind-downs, Venezuela and Nicaragua licenses, SDN list changes
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is publishing five rules memorializing web general licenses across its programs, including Iran-related General Licenses CC and DD. According to the publication, GL CC authorizes the wind-down of transactions involving the Golden Global banking and asset-management entities — blocked September 4 under Executive Order 13902 — through September 19, and GL DD winds down transactions previously authorized under earlier Iran licenses through September 23. Parallel documents publish general licenses under the Global Terrorism and Illicit Drug Trade programs, the Nicaragua program, and the Venezuela program (GLs 30B and 51; GLs 50A and 51A). A companion notice of OFAC actions records Russia-program delistings and identifying-information updates from June determinations. For compliance teams, the short wind-down windows in the Iran licenses are the operative deadlines.
8. IRS floats Opportunity Zone reporting regime and foreign tax credit allocation rules
The IRS issued two proposed rules of consequence for investors and multinationals. The first (REG-116506-25) would implement statutory information-reporting requirements for qualified opportunity funds — annual returns to the IRS, statements to investors who dispose of interests, and statements from opportunity-zone businesses to their funds — while clarifying penalties and establishing procedures for funds to revoke inadvertent certifications or voluntarily decertify. Comments are due 45 days after publication (October 26, 2026, by our calculation), with a telephonic hearing scheduled for November 5.
The second (REG-117273-25) addresses allocation and apportionment of deductions to foreign-source section 951A (GILTI) category income for foreign tax credit limitation purposes, affecting corporations operating abroad and those claiming the foreign-derived deduction-eligible-income deduction. Comments are due 60 days after publication — November 10, 2026.
On TIJ’s radar
Several smaller entries touch beats we track. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau published a set of seven debarment notices under the federal E-Rate schools-and-libraries subsidy program — a program with a long fraud history that merits continued scrutiny. The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board approved public disclosure of more than 4,000 pages of records tied to four cold-case incidents and says it will ask the Attorney General to petition a court to unseal related grand-jury materials — a transparency action we intend to follow into the released files. The FAA granted Hermeus Corporation authorization for up to six supersonic test flights of its uncrewed Quarterhorse Mk 2.2 over White Sands Missile Range through August 2027. The FDA classified cardiovascular machine-learning notification software into class II with special controls, a data point in the maturing regulatory framework for clinical AI. The State Department amended the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to reflect current defense trade policy toward Cyprus, effective October 1. And two requests for information open comment windows: DOT’s America’s Great Corridors of Commerce initiative on colocating utility infrastructure in highway and rail rights-of-way (comments due October 2) and USDA’s review of veterinary biologics regulations under the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act (comments due 30 days after publication).
Sources: Federal Register public-inspection documents linked above; FCC Third Report and Order, FCC 26-50. Featured image: the National Archives Building, Washington, D.C., home of the Office of the Federal Register. Photo by David Samuel via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
