This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

Just before the long Memorial Day weekend, the third version of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a major antitrust bill, was introduced in Congress in an under-the-radar attempt to make it more palatable. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from avocados to regulation sunsets.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 66 final regulations last week, after 61 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 32 minutes.
• With 1,273 final regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 3,090 final regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 3,257 new final regulations in 2021, President Biden’s first year, and 3,218 in 2020, President Trump’s final year.
• Agencies issued 40 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 28 the previous week.
• With 868 proposed regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 2,108 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,094 new proposed regulations in 2021 and 2,094 in 2020.
• Agencies published 449 notices last week, after 411 notices the previous week.
• With 9,225 notices so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 22,391 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 20,018 notices in 2021. 2020’s total was 22,458.
• Last week, 1,196 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,442 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2022 contains 313 pages.
• With 32,288 pages so far, the 2022 Federal Register is on pace for 78,369 pages.
• For comparison, the 2021 Federal Register totals 74,352 pages, and 2020’s is 87,352 pages. The all-time record adjusted page count (subtracting 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. There are 16 such rules so far in 2021, none from the last week.
• This is on pace for 39 economically significant regulations in 2022.
• For comparison, there were 26 economically significant rules in 2021 and five in 2020.
• The total cost of 2022’s economically significant regulations so far ranges from net savings of $8.31 billion to net savings of $32.62 billion. However, this figure is incomplete. Three economically significant rules issued this year do not give the required cost estimates.
• For comparison, the running cost tally for 2021’s economically significant rules ranges from net costs of $13.54 billion to $19.36 billion. The 2020 figure ranges from net savings of between $2.04 billion and $5.69 billion, mostly from estimated savings on federal spending. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There are 101 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far in 2022. That is on pace for 245 significant rules for the year.
• For comparison, there were 387 such new regulations in 2021 and 79 in 2020.
• So far in 2022, 348 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 845. Thirty of them are significant, on pace for 73.
• For comparison, there were 912 rules in 2021 affecting small businesses, with 101 of them classified as significant. 2020’s totals were 668 rules affecting small businesses, 26 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new regulations:

• The Food and Drug Administration, Public Health Service, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Children and Families Administration are all withdrawing a rule that would require them to sunset obsolete regulations. Such rules may now remain on the books permanently.
• A temporary increase in H2-B visas for high-skilled workers.
• No Defense Department contracts for companies that do business with the Venezuelan government.
• Paternity establishment percentages.
• Publication of Ukraine/Russia-related web general licenses 13Q and 13R, and 15K and 15L.
• Candice Jones’ wedding fireworks.
• The Postal Service is raising the price for sending periodicals to non-subscribers.
• Avocados may now be imported from Ecuador.
• The threshold for defining “small business” for defense contracting purposes.
• Managing transmission line ratings.
• Energy conservation standards for unfired hot water storage tanks.
• Notices of nonblanket activity regarding musical licenses.
• The West Sonoma Coast viticultural area.

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