Deregulation and Preemption of State Laws in the Railroad Industry: When Less May Be Better Than None
Article originally featured in the Legal Backgrounder, Vol. 40 No. 3 from the Washington Legal Foundation One may have missed the Executive Order issued February 19, 2025, entitled “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulator Initiative” (“Executive Order”).[1] It orders agency heads to identify regulations to target for deregulatory action. Although that may be a substantial opportunity for certain heavily regulated industries, those same industries and their regulators should be careful that the unintended consequence is not more regulation at the state and local level. The railroad industry is such an industry; the Federal Railroad […]