This Week in Ridiculous Regulations  

Last week, a Canadian team won the NBA championship for the first time, while an American team won the Stanley Cup. This week brings us the Competitive Enterprise Institute 35th Anniversary Dinner and Reception. Meanwhile, agencies published new regulations ranging from Segelflugzeugbau to e-cigarettes.

On to the data:

• Last week, 43 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 56 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 3 hours and 54 minutes.
• Federal agencies have issued 1,197 final regulations in 2019. At that pace, there will be 2,603 new final regulations. Last year’s total was 3,367 regulations.
• Last week, agencies published 447 notices, for a total of 9,893 in 2019. At that pace, there will be 21,507 new notices this year. Last year’s total was 22,205.
• Last week, 1,164 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,241 pages the previous week.
• The 2019 Federal Register totals 27,905 pages. It is on pace for 60,664 pages. The 2018 total was 68,082 pages. The all-time record adjusted page count (which subtracts skips, jumps, and blank pages) is 96,994, set in 2016.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. One such rule has been published this year. Six such rules were published in 2018.
• The running compliance cost tally for 2019’s economically significant regulations currently ranges from $139.1 million to $175.8 million. The 2018 total ranges from $220.1 million to $2.54 billion, depending on discount rates and other assumptions.
• Agencies have published 31 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far this year. 2018’s total was 108 significant final rules.
• So far in 2019, 216 new rules affect small businesses; 11 of them are classified as significant. 2018’s totals were 660 rules affecting small businesses, with 29 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

• A change to the process of applying for exemptions from the Section 232 national security tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
• The Coast Guard is establishing a safety zone in the Potomac River for Washington, D.C.’s July 4 fireworks show—not to be confused with the daily fireworks emanating from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
• Reporting air emissions from animal waste at farms.
• The Food and Drug Administration issued a new rule requiring e-cigarette manufacturers to report any new products to the agency before putting them on the market. Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Michelle Minton has plenty to say about how rules such as this will negatively impact public health.
• Car theft prevention standards.
• The Federal Reserve is an equal opportunity employer.
• Segelflugzeugbau gliders.
• New grant regulations as part of the Museum and Library Services Act of 2018.

For more data, see “Ten Thousand Commandments” and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.