This week in ridiculous regulations: tart cherry assessments and big cat safety

The House passed two regulatory reform bills, the REINS Act and the Separation of Powers Restoration Act. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from inland navigation to portable electric spas.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 66 final regulations last week, after 76 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 33 minutes.
• With 1,401 final regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 3,019 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 42 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 36 the previous week.
• With 990 proposed regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,134 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,044 new proposed regulations in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
• Agencies published 446 notices last week, after 355 notices the previous week.
• With 10,384 notices so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 22,379 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,505 notices in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,787 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,536 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2023 contains 342 pages.
• With 39,762 pages so far, the 2023 Federal Register is on pace for 85,694 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 five regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after five the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 115 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 259 significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 255 such new regulations in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2023, 365 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 787. Thirty-two 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:

• Summer event safety zones for the Captain of the Port Buffalo Zone; New Orleans, LA; Reserve, LA; Long Island Sound; and Prairie du Chen, WI.
• Implementing the Big Cat Safety Act.
• A national contingency plan for oil pollution.
• Inland navigation enforcement.
• Reporting requirements for large private equity funds.
• Tart cherry tax increase.
• Nuclear fee recovery for fiscal year 2023.
• High elevation airport operations.
• Asset valuation assumptions for single-employer pension plans.
• Oxides of nitrogen near Kern County, California.
• Acquisition regulations for the Agency for International Development.
• Territorial longline bigeye tuna catch limits.
• Price changes for international mail.
• Energy conservation tests for portable electric spas.
• New decompression criteria for airplane compartments.
• Aviation technician maintenance schools.
• Technical amendments to Securities and Exchange Commission paperwork.
• Higher loan amounts for small business disaster loans due to COVID.
• New Transportation Department procedures for dealing with unfair and deceptive practices.
• The definitions of “broker” and “bona fide agents.”

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