This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2022 Federal Register surpassed 70,000 pages on Friday, and is on pace for 79,617 pages. The first Artemis moon mission rocket launched. The uncrewed capsule should reach the Moon on Monday, and return to Earth next month. Twitter had a rough week. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from safety glazing to gate safety.
On to the data:
- Agencies issued 74 final regulations last week, after 38 the previous week.
- That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 16 minutes.
- With 2,742 final regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 3,159 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 41 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 40 the previous week.
- With 1,801 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 492 notices last week, after 421 notices the previous week.
- With 20,042 notices so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 22,570 notices this year.
- For comparison, there were 20,018 notices in 2021. 2020’s total was 22,584.
- Last week, 2,680 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,082 pages the previous week.
- The average Federal Register issue in 2022 contains 313 pages.
- With 70,700 pages so far, the 2022 Federal Register is on pace for 79,617 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, none from the last week.
- That 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 to $5.69 billion, mostly from estimated savings on federal spending. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
- There are 224 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far in 2022. That is on pace for 252 significant rules for the year.
- For comparison, there were 387 such new regulations in 2021 and 79 in 2020.
- So far in 2022, 767 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 864. Sixty-three of them are classified as significant, on pace for 71.
- 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:
- A 1,297-page rule for Medicare and Medicaid payments.
- Bylaws for the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board.
- Bylaws for the Postal Service’s Board of Governors.
- Mailing standards and prices.
- Human health criteria in Washington.
- Authenticating robocalls.
- Interest rates on bank balances.
- Amineptine is now a Schedule I controlled substance.
- Pell grants for prison education programs.
- Safety glazing standards.
- Size standards for small businesses.
- Interstate data matching for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
- The Code of Professional Conduct for labor mediators has been rescinded.
- Johnson’s seagrass is no longer an endangered species.
- Safety standards for gates.
- Management contracts for Indian gaming casinos.
The size of For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.