CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
A slow week closed with a bang, with Friday’s Federal Register containing 15 proposed regulations, 25 final regulations, and 502 pages. Throughout the week, new regulations cover everything from bird-hunting to sorghum.
On to the data:
- Last week, 84 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 77 the previous week.
- That’s the equivalent of a new regulation precisely every two hours.
- So far in 2015, 2,467 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 3,316 new regulations this year, far fewer than the usual total of 3,500-plus.
- Last week, 1,301 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,876 pages the previous week.
- Currently at 58,108 pages, the 2015 Federal Register is on pace for 78,210 pages.
- Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. 21 such rules have been published so far this year, none in the past week.
- The total estimated compliance cost of 2015’s economically significant regulations ranges from $1.69 billion to $1.81 billion for the current year.
- 209 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
- So far in 2015, 400 new rules affect small businesses; 56 of them are classified as significant.
Highlights from selected final rules published last week:
- Honda apparently makes jets which have Lithium-ion batteries. New federal regulations regarding.
- New energy efficiency standards for certain kinds of air conditioners and heat pumps.
- New Freedom of Information Act standards for government officials’ gift disclosures.
- Mail management requirements for federal agencies. Hopefully this is an upgrade from shredders and/or trash bins.
- The Cuba embargo continues to loosen, which is a wonderful thing for Cubans and Americans alike. A new regulation, titled “Enhancing Support for the Cuban People,” rather overstates the case. But, by loosening travel restrictions, it is still a step in the right direction.
- Also, “Cuban Assets Control Regulations.”
- Most companies have to earn their own way. But the Energy Department specializes in giving people’s money to energy companies. It is updating it requirements for doing so.
- Late-season migratory bird-hunting regulations.
- The federal government will continue to run its Sorghum Promotion, Research, and Information Program.
For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.