CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation

The last week before the holidays was a week like any other, with new rules covering everything from charitable donations to video programming for the blind.

On to the data:

  • Last week, 71 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 56 new final rules the previous week.
  • That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 22 minutes.
  • All in all, 3,545 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.
  • If this keeps up, the total tally for 2013 will be 3,617 new final rules.
  • Last week, 1,296 new pages were added to the 2013 Federal Register, for a total of 76,728 pages. This year’s Federal Register is already the 5th largest in its 78-year history.
  • At its current pace, the 2013 Federal Register will run 78,294 pages, which would be good for fifth all time. The current record is 81,405 pages, set in 2010.
  • Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. No such rules were published last week, leaving the total at 40 so far in 2013.
  • The total estimated compliance costs of this year’s economically significant regulations ranges from $6.42 billion to $11.83 billion.
  • So far, 317 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2013.
  • So far this year, 693 final rules affect small business; 98 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

  • The Federal Reserve issued a rule revising a another rule on capital requirements for banks as part of the implementation of the Basel III standards.
  • The Federal Trade Commission now regulates children’s online privacy.
  • The Fish and Wildlife Service affirmed the threated status of Umtanum Desert buckwheat and White Bluffs bladderpod, and designated a combined 2,377 acres of critical habitat for them. If that land is privately owned, this may qualify as a regulatory taking.
  • The Franciscan Manzanita is also the unwitting recipient of 230.2 acres of critical habitat. The same caveat applies.
  • The FCC issued a rule on video programming for the blind.
  • Federal credit unions are now allowed to create charitable donation accounts for their customers.
  • A new rule from NASA is titled “Removal of Redundant Regulations.” Other agencies should do similar regulatory housekeeping.

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