WASHINGTON, D.C. — Legislative Action Day 2026 may be behind us, but the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance’s (ECA) work is never done.
On May 29, 2026, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a 400-page proposed regulation that goes after how the federal government manages grants.
This proposal would prohibit federal grant recipients from attending conferences and meetings if not explicitly pre-approved in the grant award, and restrict venues from certain activities and charging for certain costs (such as security, crowd management, logistical or safety support) associated with events funded by federal grant and cooperative agreement funding.
“The OMB wants to make wholesale changes to the regulations governing grants made by federal agencies for medical research, transportation, cybersecurity, public health and more,” Tommy Goodwin, President and CEO at ECA, said. “As part of that, OMB has proposed new rules that would limit grant-funded conference attendance and have some serious unintended consequences for safety and security at convention centers and other venues. The provisions that would limit event attendance would prevent researchers from attending scientific conferences to present their findings and seek out collaborators, stop workforce development professionals from taking part in expos that connect agencies to training providers and future workers, and keep state and local governments away from trade shows where they can discover the latest technologies that can benefit their citizens.”
According to Goodwin, the rule changes that would impact event services would directly affect safety and security.
“Event organizers and venues have a duty of care to all attendees, exhibitors and speakers,” Goodwin added. “As written, the proposal would create legal and operational uncertainty for venues of all types and shift decision making on key safety and security matters away from trusted professionals and industry experts to government officials in Washington, D.C.”
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How You Can Get Involved
OMB’s proposed changes are out for public comment until July 13.
From there, the agency can make changes based on stakeholder feedback before adopting or rejecting the proposed rules at an unknown future date.
At the time of writing, the OMB has received nearly 30,000 comments on this proposal. Those comments, and others filed before the deadline, will play a big role in determining which pieces of the proposal will be adopted and which ones will be cut.
“ECA has already filed in-depth comments with OMB calling for the withdrawal of the proposed changes that would impact event attendance and venue security. In addition, we are working with other professional and trade associations and even members of Congress to help amplify our opposition to this harmful proposal. We are also strongly encouraging organizations across the industry to weigh in with OMB and make their voices heard,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin explained that ECA is ready to support any organization across the business and professional events industry that wants to share their perspective with OMB.
“Beating back potentially damaging efforts like these takes a whole-of-industry advocacy push, and ECA will do whatever it can to help Trade Show Executive readers get involved,” Goodwin said.
To add your voice, click here.
To contact Tommy Goodwin, reach out to tommy.goodwin@exhibitionsconferencesalliance.org
