This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate, signaling it intends to hold firm on fighting inflation. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from rural telehealth to turbofan engines.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 68 final regulations last week, after 40 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 28 minutes.
• With 682 final regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,991 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 45 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 31 the previous week.
• With 440 proposed regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,127 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,044 new proposed regulations in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
• Agencies published 525 notices last week, after 421 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, 1,453 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,263 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2023 contains 316 pages.
• With 17,986 pages so far, the 2023 Federal Register is on pace for 78,886 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 26 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 three regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after four 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, 159 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 697. Sixteen of them are significant, on pace for 70.
• 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:

• Turbofan engines.
• The Population Estimates Challenge Program.
• Revisions to the Unverified List.
• Updated labeling requirements for infant formula. Note that these are designed not for safety, but to keep out foreign formula. This frequently updated rule is part of what caused the ongoing formula shortage.
• Environmental criteria and standards from HUD.
• Inflation-adjusted penalties for oil, gas, and sulfur operation on the Outer Continental Shelf.
• Licensing rights for federally-funded inventions.
• Energy conservation test procedures for commercial and industrial pumps.
• Prevailing wage regulations.
• Student loan collections after bankruptcy discharge.
• The penalty for not prominently posting EEOC notices in a workplace is now inflation-adjusted for 2023.
• Promoting telehealth in rural areas.
• A correction to genetic information non-discrimination rules.
• Don’t fly over Libya.
• The Treasury Department has inflation-adjusted its civil penalties.
• Three new rules for Russian sanctions.
• Updated contact information for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• Definition of the term “tobacco product.”

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