This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

The January 6 hearings continued and the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from nuclear fees to pelagic resources.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 33 final regulations in a four-day week last week, after 55 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every five hours and five minutes.
• With 1,495 final regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 3,089 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 34 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 57 the previous week.
• With 1041 proposed regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 2,151 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,094 new proposed regulations in 2021 and 2,094 in 2020.
• Agencies published 324 notices last week, after 437 the previous week.
• With 10,818 notices so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 22,351 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 20,018 notices in 2021. 2020’s total was 22,458.
• Last week, 1,211 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,118 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2022 contains 314 pages.
• With 37,975 pages so far, the 2022 Federal Register is on pace for 78,461 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 17 such rules so far in 2021, none from the last week.
• This is on pace for 35 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 $5.69 billion to $25.92 billion. However, that 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 is for net costs of $13.54 billion to $19.36 billion. The 2020 figure is for 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 121 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far in 2022. That is on pace for 250 significant rules for the year.
• For comparison, there were 387 such new regulations in 2021 and 79 in 2020.
• So far in 2022, 411 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 849. Thirty-six of them are significant, on pace for 74.
• 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:

• Energy conservation tests for metal halide lamp fixtures.
• Adverse information may not be included in consumer reporting in human trafficking cases.
• A delay in new marine sanctuary regulations.
• New safety standards for infant bathtubs.
• Serdexmthylphenidate is now a Schedule IV controlled substance.
• Accessing Veterans Affairs records regarding benefit claims.
• Regulations for listing endangered species and designating critical habitat.
• Nuclear fee schedules.
• 911 fee diversion.
• Pelagic resources.

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