FERC issued a notice saying it would coordinate with the attorney general on what crimes it would refer to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution (AD25-12).

The commission said June 16 it will work with DOJ to file a report with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget that lists all criminal regulatory offenses enforceable by the two, along with the range of potential criminal penalties and the applicable mens rea (guilty mind) standard for a violation. The report is due by May 9, 2026.

The notice was in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order May 9 called “Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations.” The order said that many of the regulations issued by the federal government carried criminal risk for violations.

“The situation has become so dire that no one — likely including those charged with enforcing our criminal laws at the Department of Justice — knows how many separate criminal offenses are contained in the Code of Federal Regulations, with at least one source estimating hundreds of thousands of such crimes,” Trump said. “Many of these regulatory crimes are ‘strict liability’ offenses, meaning that citizens need not have a guilty mental state to be convicted of a crime.”

FERC said its current policy is largely already in line with what Trump ordered. The commission only has authority for civil fines when companies or individuals violate its rules, but since gaining its enforcement powers under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, it has said it would refer activity to the department if the misconduct were serious enough and if parties exhibit “evidence of willful behavior.”

The notice also announced a general policy that when FERC does make criminal referrals, it will consider the risk of harm caused by the offense, the potential gain to the defendant, whether the defendant had specialized knowledge or was licensed in the industry at issue, and what evidence is available of the defendant’s general awareness of the lawfulness as well as their knowledge of the regulation at issue.

Trump directed agencies to work with the attorney general to determine whether they have the authority to establish a mens rea standard for its regulations.

“If consistent with the statutory authorities identified pursuant to the review described in subsection (a) of this section, the report should present a plan for changing the applicable mens rea standards and adopting a generally applicable background mens rea standard, and provide a justification for each criminal regulatory offense for which the agency proposes to deviate from its default mens rea standard,” the order said.