CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation

It was just another week in the world of federal regulation, with new rules covering everything from Nixon’s archives to black bears.

On to the data:

  • Last week, 66 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 80 the previous week.
  • That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 33 minutes.
  • With 589 final regulations published so far in 2016, the federal government is on pace to issue 3,068 regulations in 2016. Last year’s total was 3,406 regulations.
  • Last week, 1,601 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,600 pages the previous week.
  • Currently at 13,237 pages, the 2016 Federal Register is on pace for 68,943 pages. The 2015 Federal Register had an adjusted page count of 81,611.
  • 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 in 2016, one in the last week.
  • The running compliance cost tally for 2016’s economically significant regulations ranges from $629 million to $1.46 billion.
  • 56 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published this year.
  • So far in 2016, 116 new rules affect small businesses; 20 of them are classified as significant. 

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

  • There is a drawbridge in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. A federal regulation determines when it goes up and down.
  • The Homeland Security Department is loosening certain visa requirements for foreign graduates with degrees in STEM fields who want to temporarily work in the U.S.
  • Good news: the Lousiana black bear is no longer an endangered species. The American black bear, which is similar in appearance but not endangered, is also being removed from the list.
  • The Corporation for National and Community Service has a new address.
  • The National Archives and Records Administration is changing its policies regarding its Nixon administration materials.
  • Pay regulations for boat pilots in the Great Lakes.

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