90 FR 116 pgs. 26072-26073 - Guidance on Referrals for Potential Criminal Enforcement
Type: NOTICEVolume: 90Number: 116Pages: 26072 - 26073
Pages: 26072, 26073FR document: [FR Doc. 2025-11216 Filed 6-17-25; 8:45 am]
Agency: Railroad Retirement Board
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
[top]
RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
Guidance on Referrals for Potential Criminal Enforcement
ACTION:
Notice.
SUMMARY:
This notice describes the Railroad Retirement Board's plans to address criminally liable regulatory offenses under the recent executive order on Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Peter J. Orlowicz, Senior Counsel, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, IL 60611-1275, (312) 751-4922.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
On May 9, 2025, the President issued Executive Order ("E.O.") 14294, Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations. 90 FR 20363 (published May 14, 2025). Section 7 of E.O. 14294 provides that within 45 days of the order, and in consultation with the Attorney General, each agency should publish guidance in the Federal Register describing its plan to address criminally liable regulatory offenses.
[top] Consistent with that requirement, the Board advises the public that by May 9, 2026, the Board, in consultation with the Attorney General, will provide to the Director of the Office of
Footnotes:
1 ?"Criminal regulatory offense" means a Federal regulation that is enforceable by a criminal penalty. E.O. 14294, sec. 3(b).
2 ?"Mens rea" means the state of mind that by law must be proven to convict a particular defendant of a particular crime. E.O. 14294, sec. 3(c).
This notice also announces a general policy, subject to appropriate exceptions and to the extent consistent with law, that when the Board is deciding whether to refer alleged violations of criminal regulatory offenses to DOJ, officers and employees of the Board should consider, among other factors:
• the harm or risk of harm, pecuniary or otherwise, caused by the alleged offense;
• the potential gain to the putative defendant that could result from the offense;
• whether the putative defendant held specialized knowledge, expertise, or was licensed in an industry related to the rule or regulation at issue; and
• evidence, if any is available, of the putative defendant's general awareness of the unlawfulness of his conduct as well as his knowledge or lack thereof of the regulation at issue.
Based on an initial review of Board regulations, the Board has not identified any criminal regulatory offenses enforceable by the Board. In some cases, the Board restates statutory penalties provided by the Railroad Retirement Act or references "applicable law" without defining an enforceable criminal regulatory offense. As a result, the Board does not anticipate any referrals of alleged violations to DOJ or enactment of new criminal regulatory offenses in the foreseeable future.
This general policy is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
Dated: June 16, 2025.
By Authority of the Board.
Stephanie Hillyard,
Secretary to the Board.
[FR Doc. 2025-11216 Filed 6-17-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7905-01-P