This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

Headline CPI inflation went down slightly, but a deeper look shows that things got slightly worse. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from low-fat yogurt to unlawful texts.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 71 final regulations last week, after 61 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 22 minutes.
• With 889 final regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 3,045 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 70 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 42 the previous week.
• With 640 proposed regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,192 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,044 new proposed regulations in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
• Agencies published 442 notices last week, after 463 notices the previous week.
• With 6,388 notices so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 21,877 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,505 notices in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 2,262 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,261 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2023 contains 324 pages.
• With 23,322 pages so far, the 2023 Federal Register is on pace for 79,870 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. This will soon change to $200 million after last week’s Executive Order. There are eight such rules so far in 2023, none in the last week.
• This is on pace for 28 economically significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 43 economically significant rules in 2022, and 26 in 2021. These comparisons will not be strictly apple-to-apple after the threshold change takes effect. This will likely lower year’s number.
• The total estimated cost of 2023’s economically significant regulations so far ranges from $55.92 billion to $78.74 billion, according to numbers self-reported by agencies.
• 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 five regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after five the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 75 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 257 significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 255 such new regulations in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2023, 226 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 785. Twenty-one of them are significant, on pace for 753.
• 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:

• Review and renewal for substances under the National Organic Program.
• A controversy over standards for low-fat yogurt.
• Oil spill liability limit adjustments.
• HHS is ending certain COVID emergency measures.
• The CFPB issued a statement on prohibiting abusive acts or practices.
• The Small Business Administration lifted a moratorium on giving licenses to new small business lenders.
• Canadian treaty exemptions to arms trafficking rules.
• Libyan sanctions.
• The Postal Service is updating its product list.
• Counterfeit postage.
• Technical changes to Medicare programs.
• Health care benefits for Indian veterans.
• Unlawful text messages.
• Energy conservation standards for air cleaners.
• Energy conservation standards for computer room air conditioners.
• Energy conservation standards for ceiling fan light kits.
• The bracted twistflower is now a threatened species and is receiving 1,596 acres of critical habitat.
• The Space Bureau.
• Tax increase on California-grown kiwi.

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