This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

While the nation celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends, rulemaking agencies published new regulations ranging from almond information to missile accidents.

On to the data:

• Last week, 41 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 59 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every four hours and six minutes.
• Federal agencies have issued 2,735 final regulations in 2019. At that pace, there will be 2,960 new final regulations. Last year’s total was 3,367 regulations.
• Last week, agencies published 396 notices, for a total of 20,046 in 2019. At that pace, there will be 21,695 new notices this year. Last year’s total was 21,656.
• Last week, 1,200 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,135 pages the previous week.
• The 2019 Federal Register totals 65,905 pages. It is on pace for 71,326 pages. The 2018 total was 68,302 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. Four such rules have been published this year. Five such rules were published in 2018.
• The running cost tally for 2019’s economically significant regulations currently ranges from savings of $4.39 billion to $4.08 billion, mostly from estimated savings on federal spending. The 2018 total ranges from net costs of $220.1 million to $2.54 billion, depending on discount rates and other assumptions.
• Agencies have published 65 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far this year. 2018’s total was 108 significant final rules.
• So far in 2019, 458 new rules affect small businesses; 21 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 tax cut for prune producers in California.
• How to report missile accidents.
• Changes to the federal gift and estate taxes.
• The Federal Communications Commission is changing its tariff rules.
• The International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program.
• Gray triggerfish quotas.
• Odometer disclosure for 2011 and newer cars at time of sale.
• Almond information collection.
• The Head Start Program is delaying compliance dates for performance measurements and background checks.
• Reimbursing moving expenses for federal employees.
• Farm exports are declining sharply as a result of the Trump tariffs. The Agriculture Department is addressing this by changing its export reporting requirements.
• Meet the Fokker airplane’s newest airworthiness requirement.
• Where to find the most up-to-date list of countries allowed to export poultry to the United States.
• Sugar beet insurance.

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