The week in regulations: Roadless areas and squid quotas

The national debt topped $40 trillion. Vice President JD Vance argued for ending the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. The Treasury Department tried to lower long-term debt interest rates by buying back some bonds. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from genealogy research to noise abatement.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 43 new final regulations last week.
• This is equivalent to one new final regulation every three hours and 54 minutes.
• Agencies have issued 1,932 final regulations so far in 2026.
• At this pace, agencies will issue 3,000 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 38 new proposed regulations last week.
• With 1,187 proposed regulations so far in 2026, agencies are on pace to issue 1,843 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 386 notices last week.
• With 13,483 notices so far in 2026, agencies are on pace to issue 20,936 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 19,820 notices in 2025, 25,506 in 2024, and 22,902 in 2023.
• There were 1,475 new Federal Register pages last week.
• With 54,655 pages so far, the 2026 Federal Register is on pace to reach 84,868 pages.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2026 contains 339 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.
• 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 20 new regulations that are either 3(f)(1) or economically significant. One such regulation appeared the previous week.
• This pace will yield 31 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 somewhere between net annual savings of $906 billion and net costs of $133 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 five final regulations last week meeting the broader definition of “significant.”
• So far this year, 142 new final regulations meet the broader definition of “significant.” This pace will yield 220 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, 416 new regulations affect small businesses, making a yearly pace of 646. Eighteen of them are significant, making a yearly pace of 28.
• 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:

• Walnut administrative requirements.
• Calcium carbonate pesticide tolerance.
• The new Columbia Hills wine-growing area.
• The Justice Department is establishing a National Fraud Enforcement Division.
• Food additives for animals.
• Tuna quotas.
• Education Department rules for funding certain art projects.
• The EPA is deleting six sites and partially deleting two sites from the Superfund National Priorities List.
• Staffing rules under the Wagner-Peyser Act.
• Application for relief from disabilities imposed by federal firearms laws.
• HUD is revising its noise abatement regulations.
• Income taxes.
• Squid quotas.
• Inflation-adjusted immigration fees.
• Environmental protection regulations for nuclear licenses.
• Vietnam veteran assistance.
• Traffic and conduct regulations at National Institute of Standards and Technology sites.

Highlights from last week’s proposed regulations:

• SEC rules for crypto assets.
• IRS guidance for Trump accounts.
• Homeland Security regulations for genealogy research.
• Changes to SNAP’s balance of state and federal administrative costs.
• Reclassification of endoscopic bladder cancer detection devices.
• Stablecoin regulations under the GENIUS Act.
• A color additive petition from the Gardenia Blue Interest Group.
• A color additive petition from the International Association of Color Manufacturers.
• A color additive petition from GNT USA, LLC.
• Rescinding some rural home repair regulations.
• The Small Business Administration is updating its small business size standards.
• It is also updating its small business size standards methodology.
• Roadless area conservation.

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