This week in ridiculous regulations: NASA penalties and emergency alerts

The 2024 Federal Register topped 20,000 pages. The Justice Department sued Apple for having an iPhone monopoly. Russia held an election-themed event where Vladimir Putin announced he would stay in power until at least 2030. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from hydrogen credits to recreational gag limits.

 On to the data:

• Agencies issued 56 final regulations last week, after 73 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 57 minutes.
• With 664 final regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 2,912 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 36 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 35 the previous week.
• With 426 proposed regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 1,868 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 363 notices last week, after 483 notices the previous week.
• With 5,113 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 22,425 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,902 notices in 2023, 22,505 in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,313 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,958 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2024 contains 360 pages.
• With 20,538 pages so far, the 2024 Federal Register is on pace for 90,079 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 two such rules so far in 2024, with one in the last week.
• This is on pace for nine 3(f)(1) regulations in 2024.
• 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 ranges from net savings of $16.41 billion to net savings of $16.45 billion, per the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
• 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 three new final regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after five the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 63 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 276 significant regulations in 2024.
• For comparison, there were 290 such regulations in 2023, 255 in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2024, 167 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 732. Fifteen of them are significant, on pace for 66.
• 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:

• The Tariff of Tolls.
• The FDA has determined that its Food Contact Notification rule is ineffective.
• The IRS issued a safe harbor rule for de minimis payments.
• The Patent and Trademark Office has new rules for accepting electronic signatures.
• Supporting competition among government contractors with disabilities in the AbilityOne program.
• NASA is inflation-adjusting its civil penalties.
• Russia sanctions.
• More Russia sanctions.
• Venezuela sanctions.
• Global terrorism sanctions.
• Video relay service improvements.
• Antarctic marine living resources.
• Housing loan guarantees for Native Americans.
• Housing guarantees for people in rural areas.
• The Federal Election Commission issued a Statement of Policy Regarding Commission Action in Matters at the Initial Stage in the Enforcement Process.
• Guidance for bank stress tests.
• Rules for rating digestive system disabilities among veterans.
• Safety analysis reports for uranium enrichment facilities.
• Recreational gag limits.

And from last week’s proposed regulations:

• Inspection programs for aircraft engines.
• FDA drug categories.
• Emergency Alert System correction.
• Removing the North Park phacelia from the Endangered Species List.
• Endangered species status for the bushy whitlow-wort.
• Clean hydrogen credit hearing.
• A CFTC rule for regulators’ conflicts of interest.
• Conflicts of interest among broker-dealers using predictive data.

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