1903-AA23 202504 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 1903 Economic Regulatory Administration ERA 1900 Department of Energy DOE Rescinding Regulations for Loans for Minority Business Enterprises Seeking DOE Contracts and Assistance

This action rescinds the regulations for loans for minority business enterprises seeking DOE contracts and assistance, because the regulations use race in a manner that was found to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181, 230 (2023), the Supreme Court held that the admissions programs of two universities violated the Equal Protection Clause. The loan programs governed by 10 CFR 800 bear similar characteristics to the unconstitutional admissions programs: lacking sufficiently focused and measurable objectives justifying the use of race, employing race in a negative manner, and not containing an end point for the use of race as a criterion.

]]> Other Significant First Time Published in The Unified Agenda Final Rule Stage Undetermined Undetermined Deregulatory 10 CFR 800 42 U.S.C. 7141 No Direct Final Rule 05/16/2025 90 FR 20769 Direct Final Rule Effective Date 07/15/2025 Undetermined Undetermined Undetermined No No David Taggart Acting General Counsel 1990 Office of General Counsel OGC 202 586-5281 doegeneralcounsel@hq.doe.gov 1000 Independence Ave, SW, Office of the General Counsel, Washington DC 20585