This week in ridiculous regulations: baby formula labels and room air conditioners

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. The Supreme Court upheld property rights in a 9-0 decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, in which CEI joined an amicus brief. The Court also set boundaries on the EPA’s Clean Water Act powers in Sackett v. EPA. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from recreational red grouper fishing to postage prices.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 62 final regulations last week, after 60 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 43 minutes.
• With 1,207 final regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,958 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 42 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 27 the previous week.
• With 881 proposed regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,159 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,044 new proposed regulations in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
• Agencies published 465 notices last week, after 437 notices the previous week.
• With 9,113 notices so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 22,336 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,505 notices in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,787 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,728 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2023 contains 337 pages.
• With 34,410 pages so far, the 2023 Federal Register is on pace for 84,338 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. There are eight such rules so far in 2023, none in the last week.
• This is on pace for 20 economically significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 43 economically significant rules in 2022, and 26 in 2021. These comparisons will not be apple-to-apple after the threshold change takes effect. This will likely lower this 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 $1992 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There were six regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after four the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 99 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 243 significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 255 such new regulations in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2023, 310 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 760. Twenty-eight of them are significant, on pace for 69.
• 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:

• Energy conservation standards for room air conditioners.
• Airworthiness directives for transport and commuter aircraft.
• Fees for nonimmigrant visas.
• The Government Ethics Office issued new rules for legal defense funds.
• Making political contributions in other people’s names.
• The Rural eConnectivity Program.
• A correction to allowed and prohibited substances in organic food.
• Energy conservation tests for faucets and showerheads.
• New labeling requirements for baby formula. These requirements change often, in part so foreign brands cannot keep up with the changes. This helps domestic producers by removing their competitors from the market. Rules like this, by intentionally reducing supply, contributed to last year’s formula shortage.
• The FCC announced C-Band Phase II certification procedures for the 3.7GHz band.
• Accountability for recreational red grouper fishing.
• The Miami tiger beetle is receiving 1,869 acres of critical habitat.
• The Management and Budget Office issued new uniform administrative requirements.
• The Federal Reserve updated its rules regarding delegation of authority.
• Credit assistance for water infrastructure projects.
• Postal Service price changes.
• Unlicensed white space devices operating in television bands.
• The application process for small business loans from the Small Business Administration.

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