CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation

Regulators stepped up their pace last week, with nearly 80 regulations covering everything from defibrillators to Korean oranges.

On to the data:

• Last week, 77 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 40 new regulations the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 11 minutes.
• So far in 2015, 195 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 2,438 new regulations this year, which would be far less than the usual total.
• Last week, 1,583 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,271 pages the previous week.
• Currently at 5,440 pages, the 2015 Federal Register is on pace for 64,284 pages, which would be the lowest page count since 1992.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. Two such rules has been published so far this year, one in the past week.
• The total estimated compliance cost of 2015’s economically significant regulations is $630 million for the current year.
• Nineteen final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2015, 41 new rules affect small businesses; five of them are classified as significant. 

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• You may now import two hybrid varieties of Unshu oranges from Korea.
• The Drug Enforcement Administration is classifying three synthetic cannabinoids as Schedule I narcotics, the same as heroin.
• In response to legislation passed seven years ago, HUD is just now establishing a Housing Trust Fund.
• A new licensing policy for the Crimea Region of Ukraine.
• The FDA’s body count continues to mount: another regulation to prevent life-saving defibrillators from coming to market. May this not affect anyone in your family.
• In a similar vein, Respirator Certification Fees.
• A correction to last week’s Mexican wolf regulation.
• New federal-level snowmobile regulations.
• New regulations for ice makers, too.
• Finally, new federal regulations for your cable or satellite tv interface.

For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.