14. Department of Health and Human Services · Notable
Issue and finalize the draft OCR RFRA and religious freedom rule
Printed page 494 14. Department of Health and Human Services
“A draft OCR RFRA and religious freedom rule from the Trump Administration should be issued and finalized.”
What has happened
- Attempted
The 2026 Unified Agenda carries two HHS rulemakings that between them cover the ask, both at Proposed Rule Stage with nothing published. RIN 0991-AC44, Equal Participation of Faith-Based Organizations in HHS's Programs and Activities (45 CFR 87 and 45 CFR 1050, implementing Executive Order 14205, with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in its statement of legal authority), is listed for an NPRM in 11/2026 and appears in the Agenda for the first time. RIN 0945-AA24, the OCR conscience and delegation-of-authority rule, is listed for an NPRM in 07/2026 and is in the government-wide Regulatory Plan. A published regulatory agenda is a formal administration commitment to act, which is attempted; neither draft has issued and neither is final. **What OCR did instead, recorded under the moved-nearby device.** OCR's own conscience action list, read 2026-09-03, still shows the January 5, 2023 NPRM *Safeguarding the Rights of Conscience as Protected by Federal Statutes* (88 FR 820) with **no final rule**. On 2026-01-21 OCR issued a **Dear Colleague Letter of the same name** — sub-regulatory guidance in place of the rule. That is a real, dated, on-object act that does not satisfy the ask, which is for a rule to be issued and finalized. Cross-check for the consistency pass: RIN 0945-AA24 also carries #1259's second event, so the two items are resting on one instrument and each note should say what it does to its own Quote.
- Unified Agenda entry, RIN 0991-AC44: Equal Participation of Faith-Based Organizations in HHS's Programs and Activities: Implementation of Executive Order 14205
- Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions - 2026
- HHS OCR Dear Colleague Letter, Safeguarding Federal Conscience and Related Protections in Health Care — sub-regulatory guidance issued while the January 2023 conscience NPRM remains unfinalised
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- reginfo.gov, the full HHS agenda, active stage, read entry by entry: 184 RINs. The two above are the only religious-freedom rulemakings; there is no separate “RFRA rule” RIN.
- RIN 0945-AA24 is the one that appears in the Federal Register’s Regulatory Plan (FR 2026-16603); RIN 0991-AC44 is flagged “RIN Data Printed in the FR: No” and exists only on reginfo, which is why both sources are cited. The Agenda printed in the Federal Register is partial; reginfo has all of it.
- #1259 was given its Status the same way on RIN 0945-AA24; the reading is deliberate.
- Action
- issue
- Object
- OCR RFRA and religious freedom rule
- ID
- 1392