CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The Federal Register topped 80,000 pages for the year for just the fifth time in its 80-year history, with new rules covering everything from drones to ground beef.
On to the data:
- Last week, 78 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 62 the previous week.
- That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 9 minutes.
- So far in 2015, 3,341 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 3,395 new regulations this year, fewer than the usual total of 3,500-plus.
- Last week, 1,402 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,998 pages the previous week.
- Currently at 80,631 pages, the 2015 Federal Register is on pace for 81,937 pages. This would break the all-time record set in 2010, with 81,405 pages.
- Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. 34 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 $6.18 billion to $8.69 billion for the current year.
- 282 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
- So far in 2015, 524 new rules affect small businesses; 77 of them are classified as significant.
Highlights from selected final rules published last week:
- More testing requirements for commercial heaters and air conditioners, as well as ceiling fan lights.
- Now that it’s 2015, the federal government is allowing importers to submit certain approved paperwork to Customs electronically.
- Two lion subspecies are now listed as threatened and endangered, respectively.
- Regulations for inspecting eggs.
- A correction to the SEC’s recent 229-page crowdfunding regulation.
- A safe space for amorous teenagers? The U.S. Coast Guard is establishing a safety zone in Pleasure Beach Bridge in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
- Recordkeeping regulations for grinders of raw beef.
- The FAA wants everyone to register their drones—their odd definition of which apparently includes harmless children’s toys. My colleague Marc Scribner has his thoughts.
- Corporate welfare for paper packaging companies.
For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.