The dog days of summer may be upon us, but regulatory agencies are still working hard, issuing 46 proposed regulations and finalizing nearly 100 more regulations.
On to the data:
- Last week, 98 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 74 new final rules the previous week.
- That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every one hour and 43 minutes.
- So far in 2014, 2,104 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 3,554 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
- Last week, 1,448 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
- Currently at 44,987 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for 75,992 pages. This 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. 22 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 $7.34 billion to $10.57 billion. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
- 171 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
- So far in 2014, 388 new rules affect small businesses; 58 of them are classified as significant.
Highlights from selected final rules published last week:
- The Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau is eliminating a little-used form. This little bit of housecleaning could stand to be done at other agencies as well.
- The federal government has designated a new wine-growing region in northern California, to be called Manton Valley.
- The Short’s bladderpod, whorled sunflower, and fleshy-fruit gladecress are now endangered species.
- A few corrections to the federal government’s National Poultry Improvement Plan.
- Administrative Updates to Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Regulations.
- Moroccan blueberries are now legal to import, if they meet certain conditions.
- New energy conservation standards for home furnaces.
- If you grow pears, you can buy pear crop insurance from the federal government.
For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.
Inertia Wins! 