This week in ridiculous regulations: Auto dealers and automated tariffs

The first week of the new year’s regulations is in the books. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from junk fees to cable tv competition.

 On to the data:

• Agencies issued 38 final regulations last week, after 78 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every four hours and 25 minutes.
• With 38 final regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 1,900 final regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 3,018 new final regulations in 2023, 3,168 in 2022, and 3,257 in 2021.
• Agencies issued 19 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 44 the previous week.
• With 19 proposed regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 950 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,102 proposed regulations in 2023, 2,044 in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
• Agencies published 240 notices last week, after 495 notices the previous week.
• With 240 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 12,000 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,902 notices in 2023, 22,505 in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 857 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,481 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2024 contains 214 pages.
• With 857 pages so far, the 2024 Federal Register is on pace for 42,850 pages.
• For comparison, the 2023 Federal Register totals 90,402 pages, the 2022 Federal Register has 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 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 no such rules so far in 2024.
• This is on pace for zero 3(f)(1) regulations in 2024. This will change.
• For comparison, there were 28 3(f)(1) and/or economically significant regulations in 2023, 43 economically significant rules in 2022, and 26 in 2021. Note that these are not apples-to-apples comparisons, since 3(f)(1) and economically significant rules have different thresholds.
• The total estimated cost of 2024’s 3(f)(1) major regulations is zero, since none have been issued yet, according to numbers self-reported by the government.
• For comparison, the cost tally for 2023’s 3(f)(1) major and economically significant regulations ranges from $62.60 billion to 90.48 billion. Cost estimates for 2022’s economically significant rules range $45.28 billion to $78.05 billion. In 2021, net costs ranged from $13.54 billion to $1992 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There were two regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after six the previous week.
• So far this year, there are two new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 125 significant regulations in 2024.
• For comparison, there were 290 such regulations in 2023, 255 in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2024, 19 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 1,188. One of them is significant, on pace for 63.
• For comparison, 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. 2021’s totals were 912 regulations affecting small businesses, 101 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

• It is illegal to retain or possess whitetip or hammerhead sharks in the Caribbean.
• Royalties for ephemeral sound recordings transmitted to businesses.
• Rates for prisoners’ phone calls.
• Wahoo fisheries.
• Salaries for political candidates paid from their campaign funds.
• A second rule for political candidate salaries paid from their campaign funds.
• Carrier automated tariffs.
• Bluefish specifications for 2025.
• Technological modernization at the Federal Election Commission.
• Critical habitat for the Nassau grouper.
• Louisiana Underground Injection Control Program.
• A new FTC rule aimed at auto dealers.
• The FEC is inflation-adjusting its civil monetary penalties. We’ll see a lot of these over the next several weeks.
• So is the State Department.

And from last week’s proposed regulations:

• The comment period is open until February 2 on a petition for the FTC to issue a right-to-repair rule. See Alex Reinauer’s CEI paper on right-to-repair laws for more on this idea.
• FTC junk fees. This could be a big one.
• The DEA is considering alternatives to burning piles of illicit drugs.
• Group registration for news site updates.
• Proposals for three new viticultural areas.
• And a renaming of a fourth viticultural area.
• Promoting competition in cable tv providers, although streaming services have already done most of the work.
• Technology for preventing impaired driving. Uber and Lyft are two already-existing solutions, and self-driving cars will one day provide another.
• Allowable marine mammal deaths due to offshore wind energy projects.

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