Non-impeachment news involved a major court ruling on net neutrality, plus a new tariff. This year’s Federal Register is on pace to surpass last year’s after a nearly 2,000-page week. Rulemaking agencies published new regulations ranging from modern swine slaughter to order forms for illegal drugs.
On to the data:
- Last week, 97 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 73 the previous week.
- That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every one hour and 44 minutes.
- Federal agencies have issued 2,292 final regulations in 2019. At that pace, there will be 2,969 new final regulations. Last year’s total was 3,367 regulations.
- Last week, agencies published 501 notices, for a total of 16,699 in 2019. At that pace, there will be 21,631 new notices this year. Last year’s total was 21,656.
- Last week, 1,937 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,727 pages the previous week.
- The 2019 Federal Register totals 53,302 pages. It is on pace for 69,045 pages. The 2018 total was 68,302 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. Five such rules were published in 2018.
- The running cost tally for 2019’s economically significant regulations currently ranges from savings of $4.39 billion to $4.08 billion, mostly from estimated savings on federal spending. The 2018 total ranges from net costs of $220.1 million to $2.54 billion, depending on discount rates and other assumptions.
- Agencies have published 57 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far this year. 2018’s total was 108 significant final rules.
- So far in 2019, 388 new rules affect small businesses; 20 of them are classified as significant. 2018’s totals were 660 rules affecting small businesses, with 29 of them significant.
Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:
- A new economically significant Medicare rule will have an estimated $46.5 million in one-time costs and $214.9 million in annual costs.
- New gas pipeline regulations will cost an estimated $32.7 million.
- And an estimated $19.5 million to $24.1 million in annual costs for a hazardous materials pipeline regulation.
- Readers may recall President Trump’s recent public charge regulation for new immigrants. Here is a correction to that rule.
- Odometer disclosure requirements.
- The Patent and Trademark Office is now mandating electronic filing for many documents.
- Seal hunting.
- They are also eliminating some unnecessary regulations.
- A distinct population segment of southern mountain caribou, though not the entire species, is being added to the endangered species list.
- U.S. standards for grades of apples.
- Modern swine slaughter.
- The size of stamped mail.
- Payday alternative loans from credit unions.
- The number of mackerel you can catch in one trip.
- Paperwork reduction: the Drug Enforcement Administration’s order form for illegal drugs has been reduced to single-page format.
- In a move that may or not have anything to do with car insurance, the Monito gecko has been removed from the endangered species list.
- Underground storage tank program revisions.
For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.
Inertia Wins! 