This week in ridiculous regulations: toy guns and trophy fisheries

The 2023 Federal Register topped 30,000 pages on May 8. New inflation numbers looked better on the surface, but actually got worse. A new proposed regulation would require power plants to cut carbon emissions by 90 percent by 2040 or be shut down. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from waste disposal loans to telemedicine prescriptions.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 47 final regulations last week, after 37 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every three hours and 34 minutes.
• With 1,081 final regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,938 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 46 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 55 the previous week.
• With 812 proposed regulations so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 2,207 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,044 new proposed regulations in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
• Agencies published 454 notices last week, after 513 notices the previous week.
• With 8,211 notices so far in 2023, agencies are on pace to issue 22,313 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,505 notices in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,352 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 3,066 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2023 contains 339 pages.
• With 30,887 pages so far, the 2023 Federal Register is on pace for 83,932 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 will soon change to $200 million. There are eight such rules so far in 2023, none in the last week.
• This is on pace for 22 economically significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 43 economically significant rules in 2022, and 26 in 2021. These comparisons will not be strictly apple-to-apple after the threshold change takes effect. This will likely lower this year’s number.
• The total estimated cost of 2023’s economically significant regulations so far ranges from $55.92 billion to $78.74 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 $19.36 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There were three regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” last week, after two the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 89 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant.” This is on pace for 242 significant regulations in 2023.
• For comparison, there were 255 such new regulations in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2023, 271 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 736. Twenty-five of them are significant, on pace for 68.
• 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:

• A temporary extension of physicians’ permission to issue prescriptions via telemedicine.
• The Agriculture Department is adjusting its civil penalties for inflation.
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection is terminating COVID-era travel restrictions to Canada and Mexico by ferry.
• Furbish’s lousewort is being upgraded from an endangered to a threatened species.
• Hazardous waste management in South Carolina.
• Updated safety standards for bedside sleepers.
• Surface coating operations for cars and light duty trucks.
• Correction to FCC application fees.
• Digital low power television translator stations.
• Nonaeronautical airport closure procedures.
• Yolo air quality management.
• Waste disposal loans.
• The Federal Reserve revised Regulation A, for extending bank credit, and Regulation D, for bank reserve requirements.
• Toy gun markings.
• Incidental trophy fishery closure.
• National standards for real estate inspection.

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