CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was the busiest week of the year so far, with more than 80 new regulations. The Federal Register also topped the 10,000 page mark on Monday.
On to the data:
- Last week, 81 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 35 new final rules the previous week.
- That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 4 minutes.
- So far in 2014, 438 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 2,769 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
- Last week, 1,696 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
- Currently at 11,671 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for 72,944 pages, which would be the lowest total since 2009.
- Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. Six such rules have been published so far this year, none of them in the past week.
- The total estimated compliance costs of 2014’s economically significant regulations currently ranges from $614 million to $885 million. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
- 45 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
- So far in 2014, 89 new rules affect small businesses; 14 of them are classified as significant.
Highlights from selected final rules published last week:
- New grading requirements for grapefruit grown in Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley. Oranges, too.
- The Justice Department updated its policies for arresting and interrogating journalists.
- The FDA wisely denied a request to delay a 2008 regulation for irradiating food, which is an effective way to control bacteria and other pathogens.
- The federal government adjusted drawbridge schedules in Rock Island, New York, Lawrence, New York, and Portland, Oregon.
- The Georgetown salamander and the Salado salamander are now threatened species.
For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.