The federal government took Monday off to celebrate George Washington’s birthday. But even accounting for the short work week, it was another light week on the regulatory front.
- Last week, 35 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 56 new final rules the previous week.
- That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 4 hours and 48 minutes.
- So far in 2014, 362 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 2,586 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
- Last week, 896 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
- Currently at 9,975 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for 71,250 pages, which would be the lowest total since 2009.
- Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. Six such rules have been published so far this year, none of them in the past week.
- The total estimated compliance costs of 2014’s economically significant regulations currently ranges from $614 million to $885 million. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
- 39 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
- So far in 2014, 72 new rules affect small businesses; 12 of them are classified as significant.
Highlights from selected final rules published last week:
- New federal standards for infant formula.
- If you were planning on fishing for mackerel in the Gulf of Mexico, make sure your daily catch is 500 pounds or less.
- The FAA issued new rules for helicopter air ambulances.
- That was just one of 12 new FAA regulations this week.
For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.
Inertia Wins! 