This week in ridiculous regulations: reporting stolen drugs and nuclear tariffs

The 2023 Federal Register is on pace to be the third largest in its 86-year history, behind only Obama and Trump’s midnight rush years in 2016 and 2020. The Federal Trade Commission is suing Amazon because it takes six clicks to cancel an Amazon Prime subscription. An imploded submarine with wealthy people onboard exposed a lack of empathy in some people. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from microwave oven energy usage to educating customs brokers.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 50 final regulations last week, after 66 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every three hours and 22 minutes.
• With 1,451 final regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 3,023 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 33 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 42 the previous week.
• With 1,023 proposed regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,131 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,044 new proposed regulations in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
• Agencies published 356 notices last week, after 446 notices the previous week.
• With 10,740 notices so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 22,375 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,505 notices in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,523 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,787 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2023 contains 344 pages.
• With 41,287 pages so far, the 2023 Federal Register is on pace for 86,015 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 nine such rules so far in 2023, none in the last week.
• This is on pace for 19 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 due to the threshold change. This will likely lower this year’s number.
• The total estimated cost of 2023’s economically significant regulations so far ranges from $55.06 billion to $78.22 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 four regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after five the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 124 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 258 significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 255 such new regulations in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2023, 378 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 788. Thirty-three 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:

• Airworthiness directives for various helicopters.
• Tariff provisions from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• No incentive problems whatsoever with a new regulation for reporting the theft of illegal drugs.
• Venezuela sanctions.
• Russia sanctions.
• Unified carrier registration fees for freight shipping companies.
• Certain tax credits now require pre-registration with the IRS. Higher transaction costs means fewer people will use the tax credits, which means more revenue.
• Call authentication trust anchor.
• Rules for Homeland Security Department contractors safeguarding unclassified information.
• A regulatory guide for sizing large lead-acid batteries.
• Energy conservation tests for water heaters and dishwashers.
• A correction to recent rules for toy and look-alike guns.
• Pandemic assistance programs from the Farm Service Agency.
• Corrections to American Indian probate regulations.
• Spectrum-sharing rules for satellites.
• Energy conservation standards for microwave ovens.
• Credit ratings will no longer appear in the SEC’s Regulation M.
• The Federal Maritime Commission is updating its user fees.
• Continuing education requirements for customs brokers.
• Preserving trust benefits under the Packers and Stockyards Act.
• Planning performance requirements for electrical grids during extreme weather.
• New rules for being born abroad at a U.S. consulate.
• The National Indian Gaming Commission is inflation-adjusting its civil penalties.

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