This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

Inflation took a turn for the worse and the January 6 Committee voted to subpoena former President Trump over his role in the attack on the Capitol. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from sanctions to seafood dealers.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 50 final regulations last week, after 56 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every three hours and 22 minutes.
• With 2,468 final regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 3,116 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 24 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 31 the previous week.
• With 1605 proposed regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 2,027 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,094 new proposed regulations in 2021 and 2,094 in 2020.
• Agencies published 497 notices last week, after 502 notices the previous week.
• With 17,794 notices so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 22,467 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 20,018 notices in 2021. 2020’s total was 22,458.
• Last week, 1,501 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,584 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2022 contains 317 pages.
• With 62,720 pages so far, the 2022 Federal Register is on pace for 79,192 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 34 such rules so far in 2021, none from the last week.
• That is on pace for 43 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 is for net savings of $12.48 billion to $19.59 billion, according to numbers provided by the agencies themselves. 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 savings of $733.45 million to $31.46 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 200 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far in 2022. That is on pace for 253 significant rules for the year.
• For comparison, there were 387 such new regulations in 2021 and 79 in 2020.
• So far in 2022, 681 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 860. Fifty-five of them are significant, on pace for 69.
• 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:

• Rules for foreign journalists in the United States.
• Export controls for semiconductors.
• Affordability of employer coverage for employees’ family members.
• Sanctions against Iran.
• Sanctions against Russia.
• Additional sanctions against Russia.
• Sanctions against Venezuela.
• Additional sanctions against Venezuela.
• A delay to trademark modernization.
• Restrictions on people arriving to the U.S. from Uganda.
• Amendments to H-2A visas for non-immigrant agricultural workers.
• Reporting requirements for seafood dealers dealing with catastrophic conditions.
• Debit card fees.
• The Justice Department is establishing a Data Protection Review Court.
• Relocation allowances for federal employees assisting with hurricane relief.

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