This Week in Ridiculous Regulations  

Rumblings of a “Navarro recession” are growing louder, and the 2019 Federal Register will likely crack the 40,000-page mark early this week. Rulemaking agencies published new regulations ranging from rebranding the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to Autographa californica.

On to the data:

• Last week, 67 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 61 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 31 minutes.
• Federal agencies have issued 1,739 final regulations in 2019. At that pace, there will be 2,824 new final regulations. Last year’s total was 3,367 regulations.
• Last week, agencies published 414 notices, for a total of 13,269 in 2019. At that pace, there will be 21,540 new notices this year. Last year’s total was 21,656.
• Last week, 1,766 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,484 pages the previous week.
• The 2019 Federal Register totals 39,722 pages. It is on pace for 64,484 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. Two such rules have 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 $205.1 million to $294.8 million. The 2018 total ranges from $220.1 million to $2.54 billion, depending on discount rates and other assumptions.
• Agencies have published 40 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far this year. 2018’s total was 108 significant final rules.
• So far in 2019, 295 new rules affect small businesses; 14 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:

• The National Credit Union Administration’s Office of Public and Congressional Affairs has been renamed as its Office of External Affairs and Communications.
• Normal agricultural operations during migratory bird hunting. Going forward, rice ratooning and (intentional) post-disaster flooding, if performed as normal farming practices, will not be considered baiting.
• New rules for the Defense Department obtaining criminal record information on new recruits.
• Not a Red Hot Chili Peppers song: Autographa californica.
• Iran sanctions.
• A compliance guide for small entities under the joint acquisition regulations for the Defense Department, General Services Administration, and NASA.
• When the North American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1994, it nullified the 1965 Canada-United States Automotive Products Agreement. In 2019, the International Trade Administration has finally found the time to remove the 1965 regulations from the books.
• The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), has long been a hotbed of cronyism, corruption, and waste. As a result, the agency is being renamed. It is being subsumed by the new Development Credit Authority (DCA), which is part of  the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
• Revised safety standards for carriages and strollers.
• The Environmental Protection Agency is removing some electric arc furnace regulations.
• Statement of Policy on Enforcement Discretion Regarding General Conformity Certificates for the Requirements of the Refrigerator Safety Act.
• An impressive euphemism from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Mitigation of Beyond-Design-Basis Events.

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