This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

Happy Independence Day, everyone. The Supreme Court issued a major ruling on the separation of powers in the case West Virginia v. EPA. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from microlending to walnut marketing.

On to the data:

1. Agencies issued 78 final regulations in a four-day week last week, after 33 the previous week.
2. That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every three hours and nine minutes.
3. With 1,585 final regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 3,145 final regulations this year.
4. 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.
5. Agencies issued 45 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 34 the previous week.
6. With 1085 proposed regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 2,153 proposed regulations this year.
7. For comparison, there were 2,094 new proposed regulations in 2021 and 2,094 in 2020.
8. Agencies published 460 notices last week, after 324 notices the previous week.
9. With 11,278 notices so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 22,377 notices this year.
10. For comparison, there were 20,018 notices in 2021. 2020’s total was 22,458.
11. Last week, 1,754 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,211 pages the previous week.
12. The average Federal Register issue in 2022 contains 315 pages.
13. With 39,731 pages so far, the 2022 Federal Register is on pace for 78,831 pages.
14. 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.
15. Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. There are 18 such rules so far in 2021, one from the last week.
16. That is on pace for 36 economically significant regulations in 2022.
17. For comparison, there were 26 economically significant rules in 2021 and five in 2020.
18. The total cost of 2022’s economically significant regulations so far ranges from net savings of $11.41 billion to $20.66 billion, according to numbers provided by the agencies themselves. However, three economically significant rules issued this year do not give the required cost estimates.
19. 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.
20. There are 128 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far in 2022. That is on pace for 254 significant rules for the year.
21. For comparison, there were 387 such new regulations in 2021 and 79 in 2020.
22. So far in 2022, 439 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 849. Thirty-six of them are significant, on pace for 71.
23. 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:

• Streamlined procedures for the Rural Utilities Service’s Electric Program.
• New Department of Labor rules for the protection of human subjects.
• Global terrorism sanctions regulations.
• A revision to the nonessential experimental population of the Mexican wolf.
• Renewable Fuel Standard rules.
• Mako shark retention limit.
• Crop insurance reporting.
• The Small Business Administration is streamlining and modernizing its microlending rules.
• The Mitracarpus polycladus, a Puerto Rican plant related to coffee, is being upgraded from endangered to threatened.
• Modified marketing order for walnuts grown in California.
• Energy conservation standards for dehumidifiers.
• The Ocmulgee skullcap, a type of herb, is now a threatened species, and is receiving critical habitat.
• Event data recorders on airplanes.
• New medical criteria from the Social Security Administration for evaluating cardiovascular disorders.
• Energy conservation standards for refrigerators and freezers.
• New Food and Drug Administration rules for nonprescription drugs.
• Reliability of electrical power during extreme weather.
• Emissions from drying and cleaning solvents.

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