This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

The midterm elections happened, and most of us (sorry, Georgia) are finally free of misleading, scaremongering political ads. Inflation slowed down slightly. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from spirulina extract to central air conditioners.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 38 final regulations last week, after 56 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every four hours and 25 minutes.
• With 2,665 final regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 3,070 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 37 the previous week.
• With 1,760 proposed regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 2,028 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,094 new proposed regulations in 2021 and 2,094 in 2020.
• Agencies published 421 notices last week, after 441 notices the previous week.
• With 19,573 notices so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 22,550 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 20,018 notices in 2021. 2020’s total was 22,584.
• Last week, 1,082 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,414 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2022 contains 313 pages.
• With 68,015 pages so far, the 2022 Federal Register is on pace for 78,358 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 38 such rules so far in 2021, one from the past week.
• This is on pace for 44 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 costs of $41.64 billion to $73.83 billion. The 2020 figure is for net savings of $2.04 billion to $5.69 billion, mostly from estimated savings on federal spending. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There are 218 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far in 2022. That is on pace for 251 significant rules for the year.
• For comparison, there were 387 such new regulations in 2021 and 79 in 2020.
• So far in 2022, 748 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 862. Sixty-one of them are classified as significant, on pace for 70.
• 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:

• Spirulina extract.
• West Virginia air quality.
• The Federal Communications Commission’s emergency alert system.
• Robocalls that aren’t from the emergency alert system.
• FM broadcast radio antenna performance.
• Atka Mackerel reallocation.
• Ganaxalone is now a Schedule V controlled substance.
• Indefinite federal aid construction contracts.
• Audit standards for Indian gaming casinos.
• The sickle darter, a 3.5-inch-long fish in Tennessee, is now a threatened species.
• Unanticipated overdraft fees.
• Unfair returned deposited item fee assessment practices.
• Energy conservation tests for central air conditioners and heat pumps.

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