CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation

Just another week in the world of regulation:

  • Last week, 68 new final rules were published, down from 85 the previous week.
  • That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 28 minutes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  • All in all, 2,366 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.
  • If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,883 new rules.
  • Last week, 1,443 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register, for a total of 47,967 pages.
  • At its current pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 77,367 pages.
  • Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. The 27 such rules published so far in 2012 have compliance costs of at least $16.2 billion. Two of the rules do not have cost estimates, and a third cost estimate does not give a total annual cost. We assume that rules lacking this basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.
  • One economically significant rule was published last week.
  • So far, 246 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2012.
  • So far this year, 447 final rules affect small business; 63 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

  • Last week’s economically significant rule was part of the health care bill. It sets “Operating Rules for Health Care Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) and Remittance Advice Transactions.” Its estimated cost is $1.2 billion to $2.7 billion. I have used the lower figure for this year’s running cost tally for economically significant rules.
  • If you deal in highly migratory Atlantic fish, you are now required to electronically submit weekly reports to the federal govermment.
  • If you enjoy flying Glasflugel Gliders, you should be aware of new airworthiness directives from the FAA.

For more data, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.