This week in ridiculous regulations: Space debris and dried prunes

The privately-built Odysseus spacecraft became the first American moon lander since 1972. President Biden announced new Russian sanctions in response to opposition leader Aleksey Navalny’s death in prison. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from dairy prices to bank overdrafts.

 On to the data:

• Agencies issued 40 final regulations last week in a four-day week, after 63 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every four hours and 12 minutes.
• With 421 final regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 2,845 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 35 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 33 the previous week.
• With 283 proposed regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 1,912 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 367 notices last week, after 493 notices the previous week.
• With 3,206 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 21,662 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,902 notices in 2023, 22,505 in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,227 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 3,018 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2024 contains 386 pages.
• With 13,970 pages so far, the 2024 Federal Register is on pace for 94,392 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 is one such rule so far in 2024, with none in the last week.
• This is on pace for seven 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 is net savings of $16.46 billion.
• 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 four new final regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after twelve the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 43 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 291 significant regulations in 2024.
• For comparison, there were 290 such regulations in 2023, 255 in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2024, 103 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 696. Twelve of them are significant, on pace for 81.
• 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:

• A Privacy Act exemption for AssuranceNet.
• CAFE Standard exemptions.
• The Marketing Order for California-grown dried prunes has been suspended.
• New national security rules for cameras.
• Effectiveness in serving employers.
• Third-party hospital payments.
• Federal acquisitions from service-disabled veterans-owned small businesses.
• Trade agreement thresholds for federal acquisitions.
• Burma sanctions.
• Venezuela sanctions.
• Russia sanctions.
• More Russia sanctions.
• Global terrorism sanctions.
• Space debris.
• Supervisory appeals to the CFPB.
• New FTC rule on combating auto retail scams.
• Dairy prices.
• Administrative fees for toxic substances.
• Endangered species status for the Atlantic humpback dolphin.

And from last week’s proposed regulations:

• There will a be a referendum from April 8-19 on whether to shut down the national peanut research and promotion program.
• New IRS rules for energy tax credits.
• Extended comment period for a rule on waste emissions charges for petroleum and natural gas.
• Commercial driver’s licenses.
• Bluefin tuna catches.
• New overdraft rule for Very Large Financial Institutions.
• Government data collection on school children.
• Marine transportation cybersecurity.
• Highway safety improvement.
• A new video on cybersecurity mature model certification.
• Expanding opportunities to appear before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
• Food program deficiencies.

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