Regulatory Alert: President Trump Issues Order Directing Agencies to Identify Regulations for Repeal or Modification

President Trump Issues Order Directing Agencies to Identify Regulations for Repeal or Modification
February 20, 2025

Yesterday evening, President Trump issued an executive order directing each federal agency, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to review and identify for repeal or modification any regulations or guidance documents that are, among other things, (a) inconsistent with the federal government’s constitutional or statutory authority, (b) imposing significant costs upon private parties and not outweighed by public benefits, or (c) significantly and unjustifiably impeding infrastructure development. However, exemptions apply to “any action” related to homeland security or immigration-related functions.

The order is part of the Trump administration’s “deregulatory” agenda and is complementary to a separate “10-for-1” directive, which requires agencies to ensure at least 10 existing regulations are repealed if such agency seeks to promulgate a new regulation. Collectively, both orders should make agencies more receptive to policy proposals that reduce regulatory cost burdens. At the very least, it will be harder for these agencies to promulgate new regulations. In addition, the directives create an opportunity for AAAE and airports to push for regulatory reform, including streamlining infrastructure project approvals, especially with ongoing efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce.

Summary of Order. The executive order directs each federal agency, including FAA and EPA, to review all its regulations to ensure they are consistent with law and the Trump administration’s priorities. Specifically, agencies must coordinate with the White House’s Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to identify regulations that fall in each of the following “classes”:

Unconstitutional regulations and regulations that raise serious constitutional difficulties;
Regulations that are based on unlawful delegations of legislative power;
Regulations that are based on anything other than the best reading of the underlying statutory authority or prohibition;
Regulations that implicate matters of social, political, or economic significance that are not authorized by clear statutory authority;
Regulations that impose significant costs upon private parties that are not outweighed by public benefits;
Regulations that harm the national interest by significantly and unjustifiably impeding technological innovation, infrastructure development, disaster response, inflation reduction, research and development, economic development, energy production, land use, and foreign policy objectives; and
Regulations that impose undue burdens on small business and impede private enterprise and entrepreneurship.

Under the order, the term “regulation” includes “guidance documents” as well. The list of regulations and guidance must be completed and submitted to the OMB within 60 days (or by April 20). After completing its review, each agency must work with the White House to develop a regulatory agenda to “rescind or modify” these regulations, as appropriate.

Analysis and Key Takeaways. Based on our review, there are some key takeaways from the new order directing agencies to identify and repeal or modify certain classes of regulations and guidance documents.

First, similar to the 10-for-1 directive, the order should make agencies more receptive to proposals to revise or repeal regulations or guidance documents that impose costs on an industry or society in general. AAAE has already developed proposals for the administration to consider, including streamlining project approvals through review deadlines, increasing the use of categorical exclusions during the NEPA review process, and providing more local control over airport infrastructure financing, among others.
Second, the order requires agencies to prioritize “significant regulatory actions,” which are generally limited to major rulemaking initiatives that have the potential to impact the economy by $100 million or more annually. The rules that fall within this category do not traditionally affect airports. However, the order does not preclude other rules or guidance documents from being included on the list of regulations identified for repeal or modification.
Finally, the order includes an exemption for “any action” related to a “national security, homeland security . . . or immigration-related function” from the review and repeal. As a result, we do not expect many of the security directives from the Transportation Security Administration to be subject to the requisite review.