Beltway Buzz, July 10, 2026

Administration Releases Second Regulatory Agenda. Perhaps regulators in the Trump administration are reading the Buzz, because the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions was released just one week after we noted its absence. This is only the administration’s second such regulatory agenda, as the administration failed to issue a fall regulatory agenda in 2025. As always, the dates noted in the current Regulatory Agenda are closer to internal agency “guesstimates” than binding deadlines. Set forth below are the regulatory items employers should watch in the months ahead.

National Labor Relations Board. There are no short-term or long-term regulatory entries for the NLRB.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC has put forth a robust regulatory agenda. Over the next several months, the Commission plans to rescind the EEO-1 reporting form and its Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (which have been in place for more than forty-five years) and amend the regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, among other initiatives. T. Scott Kelly, James J. Plunkett, and Nonnie L. Shivers have the details.

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) – Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

• Independent Contractor. Comments on the Fair Labor Standards Act independent contractor proposal closed on April 28, 2026. A final rule is scheduled to be issued in October 2026.
• Joint Employer. In an example of how the dates in the Regulatory Agenda can sometimes be inaccurate, the WHD’s joint-employer proposal is listed as being released sometime this month. However, the proposal was already issued in April of this year, and the comment docket closed on June 22, 2026. The Regulatory Agenda does not indicate when a final rule will be issued.
• Tip Regulations. In August 2026, the WHD is scheduled to issue “a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend regulatory provisions related to tipped employees under the [Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)].”
• Young Workers. The WHD is scheduled to issue a proposal “relating to permissible hours of work 14- and 15-year-olds” in September 2026.
• Overtime and Compensable Hours. Proposals relating to exemptions (such as overtime) for executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) employees, as well as what “kinds of activities constitute hours worked for purposes of the FLSA,” are both listed as long-term actions.

DOL – Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

• General Duty Clause. OSHA’s proposal to “exclude from enforcement known hazards that are inherent and integral to the essential function of a professional or performance-based occupation” is scheduled for a public hearing in August 2026.
• Lock-Out/Tag-Out Update. To “modernize United States regulations to better align with current technologies,” OSHA will issue proposed changes to its lock-out/tag-out regulations in November 2026.
• Tree Care Standard. In October 2026, OSHA is scheduled to issue a proposal to address health and safety concerns in the tree care industry.
• Heat Injury and Illness Prevention. The Trump administration continues to move forward with OSHA’s proposal to address excessive heat in the workplace. After holding public hearings on the matter in the summer of 2025, OSHA is now forecasting that it will issue a “supplemental [notice of proposed rulemaking]” in December 2026 and a final rule in October 2027.
• Subpoenas. In November 2026, OSHA is scheduled to adopt an interim final rule relating to subpoenas “to provide helpful clarity to the agency and the regulated public on these issues, while promoting transparency and uniform subpoena practice across the agency.”
• Workplace Violence in Health Care and Social Assistance. This proposal, which has appeared on recent Regulatory Agendas, has now been moved to a long-term action.

DOL – Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

• Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is currently reviewing a proposed rule, “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,” that would amend current regulations “so that plan fiduciaries select investments and exercise shareholder rights based only on financial considerations … and not to advance social causes.” A proposal will likely be made public this summer. This policy debate has flip-flopped with each presidential administration, beginning with President Obama.
• Alternative Investing. On June 1, 2026, the public comment docket closed on EBSA’s proposal to allow retirement plan sponsors to consider alternative investment options, such as cryptocurrency. While the Regulatory Agenda does not include a date for final action, this time frame suggests that a final rule may be issued in late 2026 or early 2027.
• Association Health Plans. A proposal to allow employer groups or associations to form association health plans is scheduled for release in November 2026. The first Trump administration issued a final rule on this matter in 2018, but it was partially struck down in court and subsequently rescinded by the Biden administration.
• Mental Health Parity. In December 2026, EBSA is expected to issue a proposal relating to regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA).

Immigration

• Prevailing Wage Rule (Employment and Training Administration). On May 26, 2026, the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) closed the public comment docket on its proposal to increase the prevailing wage levels that must be paid to EB-2 and EB-3 employment-based immigrant visas (via PERM), as well as H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 nonimmigrant visa holders. The Regulatory Agenda does not provide a date on which a final rule might issue.
• PERM Changes (ETA). In a new entry on the Regulatory Agenda, ETA states that in July 2026 it will issue a proposal to “modernize the standards and procedures by which the Department [of Homeland Security (DHS)] receives and reviews employers’ applications for permanent labor certification by improving the minimum standards for recruiting qualified U.S. workers, strengthening safeguards for U.S. [w]orkers impacted by layoffs, and enhancing employer compliance with program requirements related to non-discriminatory recruitment and hiring practices, and record retention requirements.”
• H-1B Program Reform (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)). In August 2026, USCIS is expected to release a proposal “to reform the H-1B program by revising eligibility for cap exemptions, providing greater scrutiny for employers that have violated program requirements, and increasing oversight over third party placements, among other provisions.”
• Employment Authorization Reform for Asylum Applicants (USCIS). The comment period for this proposal ended on April 24, 2026, but the Regulatory Agenda does not provide any dates for future actions.
• Biometrics (USCIS). A final rule concerning the use and collection of biometrics in “the adjudication of any immigration application, petition, or benefit” is expected to be released in December 2026.
• Automatic Extension of Work Authorization (USCIS). On October 30, 2025, USCIS promulgated an interim final rule (IFR) that ended the practice of automatically extending work authorization for certain foreign nationals while the agency processes their work authorization applications. After receiving public comments on the IFR, USCIS is expected to release a final rule in July 2026.
• H-4 Dependent Spouses. USCIS plans to “restore DHS’s long-standing policy of not extending eligibility to request employment authorization to H-4 dependent spouses.” This regulatory proposal, which was thought to be an early priority of the administration, is listed as a long-term action.
• Duration of Status (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)). This action cleared a final review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on June 16, 2026, so a final rule is imminent.
• Practical Training (ICE). The Optional Practical Training program provides foreign national students with one year of work authorization after their graduation (and up to two additional years if they graduate in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) field). ICE wants to amend the program’s regulations “to address fraud and national security concerns, protect U.S. workers from being displaced by foreign nationals, and enhance the Student and Exchange Visitor Program’s capacity to oversee the program.” This proposal, originally scheduled for September 2025, is not slated to be made public until February 2027.

Visa Bond Program (U.S. Department of State). A rule to make permanent the 2025 visa bond pilot program is scheduled to be released in August 2026.

The Marshall Plan. John Marshall (1755–1835), the fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, died 191 years ago this week in 1835. Marshall served as chief justice for thirty-four years—still the longest tenure of any chief justice to have served on the Supreme Court. Having previously served as a U.S. representative from Virginia and as President John Adams’s secretary of state, Marshall was the first person ever to have held an office in each of the three constitutional branches of the federal government. We previously examined Marshall’s decisions in McCulloch v. Maryland and Barron v. Baltimore. However, he is also the author of perhaps the most significant Supreme Court case of all: Marbury v. Madison, which established the doctrine of judicial review, whereby the judiciary serves as a “check” on the actions of the executive and legislative branches.