The week in regulations: Drone settlements and gambling losses

The 2026 Federal Register topped 20,000 pages. President Trump got into a feud with the Pope. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from mail standards to remittance taxes.

 On to the data:

• Agencies issued 49 new regulations last week.
• This is equivalent to one new regulation every three hours and 26 minutes.
• Agencies have issued 735 final regulations so far in 2026.
• At this pace, agencies will issue 2,483 final regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,441 final regulations in 2025, 3,248 in 2024, and 3,018 in 2023.
• Agencies issued 29 new proposed regulations last week.
• With 515 proposed regulations so far in 2026, agencies are on pace to issue 1,740 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 1,498 proposed regulations in 2025, 1,769 in 2024, and 2,102 in 2023.
• Agencies issued 448 notices last week.
• With 6,149 notices so far in 2026, agencies are on pace to issue 20,774 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 19,820 notices in 2025, 25,506 in 2024, and 22,902 in 2023.
• There were 2,094 new Federal Register pages last week.
• With 20,861 pages so far, the 2026 Federal Register is on pace to reach 70,476 pages.
• For comparison, the 2025 Federal Register had 61,461 pages, and 2024 had an all-time record 107,261 pages. The 2023 edition had 90,402 pages.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2026 contains 282 pages.
• Rules with annual economic effects of $100 million or more in at least one year qualify as economically significant.
• During the Biden administration, this category was temporarily scrapped and replaced with a $200 million annual threshold for being called significant under Section 3(f)(1) of Executive Order 12866 as amended.
• A 2025 Trump executive order scrapped the $200 million 3(f)(1) threshold and revived the $100 million economically significant category. Because of the length of time the rulemaking process takes, rules under both thresholds are still appearing.
• So far in 2026, there are eight new regulations that are either 3(f)(1) or economically significant. No such regulations appeared in the previous week.
• This pace will yield 27 new regulations in 2026 that are either 3(f)(1) or economically significant.
• For comparison, there were 17 new regulations in 2025 that were either 3(f)(1) or economically significant, 20 in 2024, and 28 in 2023. Note that these are not apples-to-apples comparisons, since 3(f)(1) and economically significant rules have different thresholds.
• Regulations that are new in 2026 and are either 3(f)(1) or economically significant are estimated to produce net annual savings between $907 billion and $132 billion.
• For context, 3(f)(1) or economically significant regulations in 2025 had estimated net annual costs of $219 million to $1.64 billion. The figures for 2024 are net annual savings of $16.42 billion to $26.45 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There were four final regulations last week meeting the broader definition of “significant.”
• So far this year, 67 new final regulations meet the broader definition of “significant.” This pace will yield 226 significant final regulations in 2026.
• For comparison, there were 155 such regulations in 2025, 339 in 2024, and 290 in 2023.
• So far in 2026, 172 new regulations affect small businesses, making a yearly pace of 581. Ten of them are significant, making a yearly pace of 34.
• For comparison, in 2025 there were 597 regulations affecting small businesses, 30 of them significant. In 2024 there were 770 regulations affecting small businesses, 76 of them significant. In 2023 there were 789 regulations affecting small businesses, 106 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

• Paperwork fees for certificate of loss of nationality of the United States.
• House falls in marine terminals.
• Drone settlement policies.
• Marine mammal casualties from geophysical surveys in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Eliminating outdated rules for technology exports.
• Removing outdated USDA regulations.
• Government partnerships with religious organizations, USDA edition.
• The Commerce Department is rescinding parts of Civil Rights Act policies.
• The Commerce Department is removing some lobbying restrictions.
• The Commerce Department is redefining the term “United States.”
• Non-invasive bone growth stimulators.
• The FCC is deleting wireline rules.
• Mandatory nuclear hearings.
• Fees for accessing government data from NOAA.
• The IRS’ definition of “qualified tips.”

And from last week’s proposed regulations:

• IRS rules for the tax treatment of gambling losses.
• Endangered species status for the Jamaican kite swallowtail.
• Food delivery fee regulations, but only for orders placed online.
• Price changes for international mail.
• Petition findings on proposed listings of tope sharks on the Endangered Species List.
• Ex parte communications.
• Differential pay for prescribed wildland fire activities.
• New domestic mail standards.
• A canceled hearing on ID regulations for tax preparers.
• Excise tax on remittances.

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