This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

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President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis marked the first of what will likely be many October surprises. Congress agreed on one spending bill to avoid another shutdown, but remains deadlocked on a separate COVID-related spending bill. Meanwhile, regulatory agencies issued new regulations ranging from TikTok to boat engines.

On to the data:

  • Last week, 73 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 69 the previous week.
  • That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 18 minutes.
  • Federal agencies have issued 2,470 final regulations in 2020. At that pace, there will be 3,216 new final regulations. Last year’s total was 2,964 regulations.
  • There were 45 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, for a total of 1,663 on the year. At that pace, there will be 2,165 new proposed regulations in 2020. Last year’s total was 2,146 proposed regulations.
  • Last week, agencies published 473 notices, for a total of 16,978 in 2020. At that pace, there will be 22,107 new notices this year. Last year’s total was 21,804.
  • Last week, 1,855 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,509 pages the previous week.
  • The 2020 Federal Register totals 62,537 pages. It is on pace for 81,429 pages. The 2019 total was 70,938 pages. The all-time record adjusted page count (which subtracts 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. Four such rules have been published this year. Four such rules were published in 2019.
  • The running cost tally for 2020’s economically significant regulations ranges from net savings of between $1.19 billion and $4.19 billion. 2019’s total ranges from net savings of $350 million to $650 million, mostly from estimated savings on federal spending. The exact number depends on discount rates and other assumptions.
  • Agencies have published 56 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far this year. 2019’s total was 66 significant final rules.
  • So far in 2020, 487 new rules affect small businesses; 20 of them are classified as significant. 2019’s totals were 501 rules affecting small businesses, with 22 of them deemed significant.

Highlights from last week’s new regulations:

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