This week in ridiculous regulations: ice fog and pre-merger paperwork
Inflation more or less held steady. The FTC is reportedly getting ready to file an antitrust suit against Amazon. The Federal Register had its busiest week of the year, tallying 2,850 pages, compared to an average of about 1,750 pages. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from power plant demolition to package barcodes.
On to the data:
- Agencies issued 69 final regulations last week, after 73 the previous week.
- That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 26 minutes.
- With 1,889 final regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 3,067 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 39 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 72 the previous 33week.
- With 1,303 proposed regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,115 proposed regulations this year.
- For comparison, there were 2,044 new proposed regulations in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
- Agencies published 436 notices last week, after 488 notices the previous week.
- With 13,741 notices so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 22,307 notices this year.
- For comparison, there were 22,505 notices in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
- Last week, 2,850 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 2,754 pages the previous week.
- The average Federal Register issue in 2023 contains 356 pages.
- With 54,872 pages so far, the 2023 Federal Register is on pace for 89,078 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 10 such rules so far in 2023, none in the last week.
- This is on pace for 16 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 $54.41 billion to $77.57 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 seven regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after nine the previous week.
- So far this year, there are 166 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 269 significant regulations in 2023.
- For comparison, there were 255 such new regulations in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
- So far in 2023, 518 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 841. Forty-five of them are significant, on pace for 73.
- 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:
- Restrictions on partially hydrogenated oils in foods.
- Corrections to recent Homeland Security rules for non-immigrants.
- Air Tractor airplanes.
- Appeals procedures for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
- The Natural Resources Revenue Office is now accepting electronic records for its audits.
- Ice fog in Alaska.
- Vapor recovery systems in North Carolina.
- Fugitive dust emissions sources in North Carolina.
- The National Foundation for the Arts and Humanities is removing its Freedom of Information Act regulations.
- Critical habitat for threatened Caribbean corals.
- Ethical conduct for postal employees.
- New DEA rules for dispensing drugs to relieve addicts’ withdrawal symptoms.
- Accessibility guidelines for pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way.
- Immigration bond notifications.
- Energy conservation tests for air cleaners.
- Energy conservation tests for fans and blowers.
- Rules for federal vendors submitting feedback using the Acquisition 360 survey (the survey itself is here).
- The threshold for disadvantaged small businesses for federal acquisitions purposes.
- Sanctions against Mali.
- Sanctions against Russia.
- Sanctions against Venezuela.
- The revised broadband consumer label.
- Two rules for drawbridge schedules in Stuart, FL.
- Framework adjustment 13 or monkfish.
- Migratory bird hunting.
- A safety zone around the demolition of the James DeYoung powerplant.
- Barcodes on mail packages.
And from last week’s proposed regulations:
- The FTC is extending until September 27 the comment period for its proposed changes to Hart-Scott-Rodino Act premerger notification requirements.
- Critical habitat for the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly.
- A proposed EPA rule for used drum management.
- The Apache trout may be removed from the Endangered Species List.
- Implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
- User fees for agricultural quarantine and inspection services.
- The EPA is making changes to how it treats pharmaceutical waste and defines solid waste.
- The EPA is changing air emissions reporting requirements.
- The FAA may establish a new category for very light airplanes.
- Access to video conferencing.
- Airlines that do business with the federal government must submit an annual report about their efforts to stop human trafficking.
For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.