This week in ridiculous regulations: Animal herders and delaying REAL ID

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President Biden’s final Federal Register week was a busy one. Its 4,199 pages would make for a 209,950-page year if it sustained that pace. CEI released its new Agenda for Congress. Israel and Hamas signed a cease-fire agreement. Blue Origin launched a rocket. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from expat presents to grizzly bears.

 On to the data:

  • Agencies issued 143 final regulations last week, after 62 the previous week.
  • That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every one hour and 10 minutes.
  • With 228 final regulations so far in 2025, agencies are on pace to issue 5,182 final regulations this year.
  • For comparison, there were 3,248 final regulations in 2024, 3,018 in 2023, and 3,168 in 2022.
  • Agencies issued 78 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 21 the previous week.
  • With 109 proposed regulations so far in 2025, agencies are on pace to issue 2,477 proposed regulations this year.
  • For comparison, there were 1,769 proposed regulations in 2024, 2,102 proposed regulations in 2023, and 2,044 in 2022.
  • Agencies published 641 notices last week, after 522 notices the previous week.
  • With 1,273 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 22,571 notices this year.
  • For comparison, there were 25,506 notices in 2024, 22,902 in 2023, and 28,932 in 2022.
  • Last week, 4,199 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 2,043 pages the previous week.
  • The average Federal Register issue in 2025 contains 616 pages.
  • With 6,776 pages so far, the 2025 Federal Register is on pace for 154,000 pages.
  • For comparison, the 2024 Federal Register has an all-time record 107,261 pages. The 2023 edition has 90,402 pages, and the 2022 Federal Register has 80,756 pages.
  • Rules with $200 million or more of economic effects in at least one year qualify as major under Section 3(f)(1). This replaces the former economically significant tag for $100 million-plus regulations. There are two 3(f)1 regulations so far in 2025, with both in the last week.
  • This is on pace for 45 3(f)(1) regulations in 2025.
  • For comparison, there were 20 3(f) significant regulations in 2024, 28 3(f)(1) and/or economically significant regulations in 2023, and 43 economically significant rules in 2022. Note that these are not apples-to-apples comparisons, since 3(f)(1) and economically significant rules have different thresholds.
  • This year’s section 3(f)(1) significant regulations (formerly called economically significant) cost an estimated $870 million.
  • For context, the cost tally for 2024’s 3(f)(1) significant regulations is net savings of $16.42 billion to 26.45 billion. 2023’s 3(f)(1) and/or economically significant regulations estimated costs range from $62.60 billion to 90.48 billion. Cost estimates for 2022’s economically significant rules range $45.28 billion to $78.05 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
  • There were 18 new final regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after four the previous week.
  • So far this year, there are 30 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 682 significant regulations in 2025.
  • For comparison, there were 339 such regulations in 2024, 290 in 2023, and 255 in 2022.
  • So far in 2025, 43 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 977. Four of them are significant, on pace for 91.
  • For comparison, in 2024 there were 770 regulations affecting small businesses, 76 of them significant. In 2023 there were 789 regulations affecting small businesses, 79 of them significant. In 2022 there were 912 regulations affecting small businesses, 70 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

And from last week’s proposed regulations:

For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter. See also CEI’s Agenda for Congress.