This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

Silicon Valley Bank’s failure was the confluence of bad management and bad regulations. It could also complicate the Fed’s inflation-fighting efforts. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from spirulina extract to spiny lobsters.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 40 final regulations last week, after 72 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every four hours and 12 minutes.
• With 614 final regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,952 final regulations this year. 
• For comparison, there were 3,168 new final regulations in 2022, and 3,257 new final regulations in 2021.
• Agencies issued 31 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 50 the previous week. 
• With 440 proposed regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,115 proposed regulations this year. 
• For comparison, there were 2,044 new proposed regulations in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
• Agencies published 421 notices last week, after 454 notices the previous week.
• With 4,511 notices so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 21,688 notices this year. 
• For comparison, there were 22,505 notices in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,263 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,606 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2023 contains 325 pages.
• With 16,529 pages so far, the 2023 Federal Register is on pace for 79,466 pages. 
• For comparison, the 2022 Federal Register totals 80,756 pages, and 2021’s is 74,352 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 six such rules so far in 2023, none in the last week. 
• This is on pace for 29 economically significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 43 economically significant rules in 2022, and 26 in 2021.
• The total estimated cost of 2023’s economically significant regulations so far ranges from $55.49 billion to $78.41 billion, according to numbers provided by the agencies themselves. 
• For comparison, the running cost tally for 2022’s economically significant rules ranges from net costs of $45.28 billion to $78.05 billion. In 2021 net costs ranged from $13.54 billion to $19.36 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There were four regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after seven the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 57 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 274 significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 255 such new regulations in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2023, 149 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 716. Fifteen of them are significant, on pace for 72.
• For comparison, in 2022 there were 912 rules affecting small businesses, 70 of them significant. 2021’s totals were 912 rules affecting small businesses, 101 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new regulations:

• Schools for airplane mechanics.
• Life insurance for veterans with traumatic injuries.
• Modified potato acetolactate synthase tolerance exemption.
• Medicare and Medicaid payment policies.
• The bog buck moth is now an endangered species.
• Energy conservation tests for televisions.
• Annual leave for federal employees responding to national emergencies.
• Segelflugzeugbau gliders.
• Potato proteins.
• Tolerance exemptions for selected bacteriophages.
• Handling retaliation complaints at OSHA.
• Updated Tariff of Tolls for the St. Lawrence Seaway.
• Energy conservation tests for consumer boilers.
• Reduced user fees for agricultural quarantine and inspection services.
• The Homeland Security Department is extending COVID-related interview interpreter rules.
• Waxes and salts in pesticides.
• Copyright guidance for works containing AI-generated content.
• Spirulina extract is exempt from certain color additive regulations.
• Spiny lobster management.
• The Coast Guard has updated its electrical engineering regulations.

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