This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The number of new federal regulations passed the 3,000 mark last week, and the Federal Register continues its record pace. Now in its 81st year, it is already in top-ten territory as far as page count. New regulations range from wood heaters to lamps.
On to the data:
- Last week, 95 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 53 the previous week.
- That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every one hour and 50 minutes.
- With 3,065 final regulations published so far in 2016, the federal government is on pace to issue 3,756 regulations in 2016. Last year’s total was 3,406 regulations.
- Last week, 1,688 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,324 pages the previous week.
- Currently at 73,014 pages, the 2016 Federal Register is on pace for 89,478 pages. This would exceed the 2010 Federal Register’s all-time record adjusted page count of 81,405.
- Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. 26 such rules have been published so far in 2016, one in the last week.
- The running compliance cost tally for 2016’s economically significant regulations ranges from $4.52 billion to $6.72 billion.
- 239 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published this year.
- So far in 2016, 528 new rules affect small businesses; 92 of them are classified as significant.
Highlights from selected final rules published last week:
- Ambient air control quality standards for lead.
- Do not sell sexually explicit materials on Defense Department property.
- A regulation for how to present papers at Defense Department meetings.
- The EPA is loosening some of its gasoline vapor recovery requirements in Ohio cities including Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Dayton.
- The EPA also decided, in late October, to continue with its new wood heater regulations.
- Now that it’s 2016, the Department of Homeland Security is issuing two new regulations for an electronic Visa update system.
- Energy tests for lamps.
- Two new endangered species of grouper fish.
- A population segment of Columbian white-tailed deer in Oregon and Washington State is now classified as threatened—an upgrade from its previous endangered status.
For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.