The week in regulations: Spinach proteins and seat belt reminders

The Artemis II mission landed safely after orbiting the moon. Inflation took a huge jump in March from the Iran war’s effects on energy prices. National conservatives and Vladimir Putin had a setback in Hungary’s elections, which ousted Viktor Orbán. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from grape taxes to weird space stuff.

 On to the data:

• Agencies issued 39 new regulations last week.
• This is equivalent to one new regulation every four hours and 18 minutes.
• Agencies have issued 686 final regulations so far in 2026.
• At this pace, agencies will issue 2,486 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 48 new proposed regulations last week.
• With 486 proposed regulations so far in 2026, agencies are on pace to issue 1,761 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 368 notices last week.
• With 5,701 notices so far in 2026, agencies are on pace to issue 20,766 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 19,820 notices in 2025, 25,506 in 2024, and 22,902 in 2023.
• There were 1,636 new Federal Register pages last week.
• With 18,766 pages so far, the 2026 Federal Register is on pace to reach 67,993 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 272 pages.
• Rules with annual economic effects of $100 million or more 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. One such regulation was new last week.
• This pace will yield 29 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 two final regulations last week meeting the broader definition of “significant.”
• So far this year, 63 new final regulations meet the broader definition of “significant.” This pace will yield 228 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, 164 new regulations affect small businesses, making a yearly pace of 594. Ten of them are significant, making a yearly pace of 36.
• 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:

• Pollock in Statistical Area 630.
• Foreign adversary control of telecommunications networks.
• Pre-export examinations for imported horses.
• Multi-family housing simple transfer pilot program.
• Regulators are prohibited from using reputation risk.
• The California Desert Grape Administrative Committee is lowering taxes on grapes grown in a designated area of southeastern California.
• FCC ruled for foreign ownership of broadcasters.
• Sulfur emissions from stationary boilers in Missouri.
• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is sunsetting one of its rules for aircraft.
• Spinach defensin proteins.
• Seat belt reminder systems.
• Crystalline silica exposure.

And from last week’s proposed regulations:

• The IRS wants to tax remittances.
• Coal combustion residuals.
• Money laundering and financing terrorism.
• Funds transfers through the FedNow payment system.
• GENIUS Act requirements for stablecoins.
• Stablecoin money laundering and counterfeiting.
• Dairy tariffs.
• Spectrum abundance for weird space stuff.
• Signing hazardous waste manifests.
• Reducing bureaucracy and burdens for community services programs.
• Medicare payment policies for inpatient psychiatric care.
• Walking-working surfaces.

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