This week in ridiculous regulations: California raisins and debit card fees

There was a pro-Israel and anti-Hamas rally on the National Mall of more than 200,000 people. A fight nearly broke out at a Senate hearing. CEI scholar Sean Higgins was one of the witnesses, though not one of the near-combatants. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from beet insurance to lactic acid tolerance.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 61 final regulations last week in a four-day week, after 59 the previous five-day week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 45 minutes.
• With 2,651 final regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,999 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 43 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 30 the previous week.
• With 1,893 proposed regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,141 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,044 new proposed regulations in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
• Agencies published 529 notices last week, after 363 notices the previous week.
• With 20,313 notices so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 22,979 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,505 notices in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 2,978 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after1,392 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2023 contains 359 pages.
• With 80.549 pages so far, the 2023 Federal Register is on pace for 91,119 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 recently changed to $200 million. There are 24 such rules so far in 2023, one in the last week.
• This is on pace for 27 economically significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 43 economically significant rules in 2022, and 26 in 2021. The higher threshold will likely lower this year’s number.
• The total estimated cost of 2023’s economically significant regulations so far ranges from $87.46 billion to $89.59 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 eight regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after four the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 246 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 278 significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 255 such new regulations in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2023, 682 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 771. Sixty-nine of them are significant, on pace for 78.
• 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 final regulations:

• Importing fresh beef from Paraguay.
• Changes to prevailing rate systems in Pennsylvania, and in Arizona and Utah.
• New State Department policies for disclosing documents related to hostage situations.
• Flexible sugar beet insurance.
• Fair Credit Reporting Act disclosures.
• Multi-year certificates for recreational vessels.
• Federal acquisitions from North Macedonia.
• Rules related to the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act.
• A compliance guide for small entities doing business with the federal government.
• Bus rollover structural integrity.
• Information collection from libraries.
• Management policies for ports of entry and Customs stations.
• Rules related to the 2017 Social Security Fraud Prevention Act.
• Rules for representing other people before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• Next Generation television broadcasts.
• A correction to a rule permitting marine mammal casualties around wind farm projects.
• “Other rockfish”
• Small nuclear reactor emergency preparedness.
• Federal Reserve authority delegation requirements.
• General requirements for the National Labor Relations Board.
• The Regional Agricultural Promotion Program.
• Modified fish import deadlines.
• H-2B visas.

And from last week’s proposed regulations:

• Tax increase on California raisins.
• Proposed tolerance actions for lactic acid.
• Coal waste disposal.
• Golden tilefish specifications.
• Emissions from existing landfills in Alabama.
• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementation procedures.
• Termination rights, royalty distribution, ownership transfers, and disputes under the Music Modernization Act.
• Rubber tire manufacturing emissions.
• Monitoring seafood imports.
• Incentive waivers for federal employees.
• State safety oversight rules from the Federal Transit Administration.
• Medicare Advantage updates.
• Hiring practices for banks.
• Working hours for transit workers.
• Debit card fees.
• Tax treatment of donor-advised funds.
• Evaluating nuclear deviations.
• A proposed CFPB rule for payment apps.
• Notification requirements for emergency release of animal waste air emissions.
• Buy America requirements for federal acquisitions.

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