The week in regulations: Deepwater ports and ASCII relays

A court ruled President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs unconstitutional. The case now moves to the Supreme Court. Countries around the world stopped shipping parcels to America due to a severe reduction of de minimis tariff exemptions. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from immigration judges to space innovation regulations.

 On to the data:

• Agencies issued 61 final regulations last week, after 54 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 46 minutes.
• With 1,713 final regulations so far in 2025, agencies are on pace to issue 2,534 final regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 3,248 final regulations in 2024, 3,018 in 2023, and 3,168 in 2022.
• Agencies issued 28 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 52 the previous week.
• With 1,086 proposed regulations so far in 2025, agencies are on pace to issue 1,607 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 1,769 proposed regulations in 2024, 2,102 proposed regulations in 2023, and 2,044 in 2022.
• Agencies published 397 notices last week, after 427 notices the previous week.
• With 13,358 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 19,760 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 25,506 notices in 2024, 22,902 in 2023, and 28,973 in 2022.
• Last week, 1,027 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,252 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2025 contains 255 pages.
• With 42,307 pages so far, the 2025 Federal Register is on pace for 64,095 pages.
• For comparison, the 2024 Federal Register has an all-time record 107,261 pages. The 2023 edition has 90,402 pages, and the 2022 Federal Register has 80,756 pages.
• Rules with $200 million or more of economic effects in at least one year qualify as major under Section 3(f)(1). This replaced the former economically significant tag for $100 million-plus regulations.
• However, the $100 million economically significant tag is now revived under a Trump Executive Order, and the $200 million 3(f)(1) tag is going away. We will likely see rules from both categories this year.
• There are five 3(f)(1) or economically significant regulations so far in 2025, with one in the last week.
• This is on pace for seven 3(f)(1) or economically significant regulations in 2025.
• For comparison, there were 20 3(f)(1) significant regulations in 2024, 28 3(f)(1) and/or economically significant regulations in 2023, and 43 economically significant rules in 2022. Note that these are not apples-to-apples comparisons, since 3(f)(1) and economically significant rules have different thresholds.
• This year’s section 3(f)(1) and economically significant regulations have estimated costs ranging from $1.81 billion to $22.51 billion.
• For context, the cost tally for 2024’s 3(f)(1) significant regulations is net savings of $16.42 billion to 26.45 billion. 2023’s 3(f)(1) and/or economically significant regulations estimated costs range from $62.60 billion to 90.48 billion. Cost estimates for 2022’s economically significant rules range from $45.28 billion to $78.05 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There were two new final regulations last week meeting the broader definition of “significant,” after one the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 80 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 118 significant regulations in 2025.
• For comparison, there were 339 such regulations in 2024, 290 in 2023, and 255 in 2022.
• So far in 2025, 415 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 665. Seventeen of them are significant, on pace for 27. Due to changes at FederalRegister.gov, this statistic can no longer be tracked. It was current as of August 15, 2024.
• For comparison, in 2024 there were 770 regulations affecting small businesses, 76 of them significant. In 2023 there were 789 regulations affecting small businesses, 79 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

• Gulf greater amberjack commercial closure.
• Robocalls.
• The FDA is terminating the Arthritis Advisory Committee.
• Temporary immigration judges.
• The Labor Department is rescinding nondiscrimination and equal-opportunity regulations.
• Sport fishing.
• Removal of obsolete crop insurance regulations.
• Telemarketing sales rule fees.
• Inflation-adjusted federal acquisition thresholds.
• Tax increases on Texas-grown oranges and grapefruit.
• Foreign trade regulations from the Census Bureau.
• Underground injection control programs.
• International arms trafficking.
• FCC regulations for space innovation.
• Incinerating trash.
• Phasing down hydrofluorocarbons.
• The FCC is removing some obsolete regulations.
• And removing barriers to infrastructure investment.
• Syrian sanctions.
• Terminating the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program.
• Revising nuclear plant design certification duration.
• Telecommunications equipment integrity.
• The Energy Department is invoking the Defense Production Act to implement voluntary agreements.
• Limiting federal acquisitions payments to universities.
• Hunting migratory birds.
  

And from last week’s proposed regulations:

• Threatened species status for the southern hognose snake.
• Data availability for unemployment benefit programs.
• Deepwater ports.
• Visa requirements for students.
• The CPSC is withdrawing a rule on disclosure of interests for people participating in agency proceedings.
• The FCC is removing regulations that block network maintenance and improvements.
• Clean air in Connecticut.
• Pennsylvania motor vehicle inspections.
• ASCII format requirements for telecommunications relay services.
• Modernizing alert systems.
• Heavy-duty vehicle inspections in California.
• Ninety-day findings for nine potential additions to the Endangered Species List.
• The Northern California-Southern Oregon population segment of fisher, a small mammal in the weasel family, may soon join the Endangered Species List.
• Diamond Aircraft airworthiness.

For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter. See also CEI’s Agenda for Congress.