Category Archives: regulation

By now, most of the world has a week or more of social distancing under their belts. People are doing an admirable job of dealing with the difficulties and helping each other out. Governments are responding to the coronavirus with a mix of hasty “flash policy” as well as getting rid of harmful regulations on restaurants, schools, and stores. Most of these rules were never needed in the first place, and a growing list of such rules is available on Twitter’s #NeverNeeded hashtag. Meanwhile, agencies issued new final regulations ranging from vegetable oil emissions to how to treat astronauts.

On to the data:

• Last week, 82 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 62 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and three minutes.
• Federal agencies have issued 703 final regulations in 2020. At that pace, there will be 3,196 new final regulations. Last year’s total was 2,964 regulations.
• There were also 35 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, for a total of 463 on the year. At that pace, there will be 2,105 new proposed regulations in 2020. Last year’s total was 2,184 proposed regulations.
• Last week, agencies published 568 notices, for a total of 4,853 in 2020. At that pace, there will be 22,060 new notices this year. Last year’s total was 21,804.
• Last week, 1,492 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,258 pages the previous week.
• The 2020 Federal Register totals 16,226 pages. It is on pace for 73,755 pages. The 2019 total was 76,288 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. Two 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 $180 million and $4.69 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 16 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far this year. 2019’s total was 66 significant final rules.
• So far in 2020, 140 new rules affect small businesses; six of them are classified as significant. 2019’s totals were 501 rules affecting small businesses, with 22 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

• Flight restrictions for flights from the UK.
• And the Schengen Area.
• Reporting outages for submarine cables.
• Subsistence hunting of northern fur seals.
• A correction to an earlier regulation on doctors providing telehealth services.
• The Coast Guard has established a safety zone around the coronavirus-stricken cruise ship Grand Princess.
• New EPA rules for emissions from making vegetable oil.
• Cigarette package labeling requirements for smaller producers.
• Larger producers, too.
• How to treat astronauts.
• The fine for not posting Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requirements in a workplace have been adjusted for inflation.
• Archaeological artifacts from El Salvador.
• The Small Business Administration is implementing a regulation from the Lending Oversight Reform Act of 2018.
• Emission standards for boats made from plastic composites.
• The St. Lawrence Seaway Tariff of Tolls.
• Carrying broadcast television stations on cable and satellite networks.

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

What can Washington do to minimize harm from the coronavirus? The answer isn’t hasty flash policy, as Iain Murray and I have argued. If anything, some of the best policy responses are coming not from imposing new regulations, but from loosening old ones. In fact, many such rules were never needed in the first place. To that end, a Twitter hashtag, #NeverNeeded, is collecting a small but growing list of ideas for rules to get rid of, as well as rules that already have been eased.

Ideas are welcome. If you’re on Twitter, please tag CEI’s account, @ceidotorg, or my account, @regoftheday, with your #NeverNeeded examples, ideas, and stories. We’ll periodically update this list as it grows. Other lists of ideas are available from CNN, the R Street Institute, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.

So far, the list includes:

Ideas

• Remove tariffs and other supply chain barriers that prevent health care supplies from getting to where they are needed.
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should significantly ease its process for approving vaccines, treatments, and tests.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission should change accounting rules that discourage stockpiling of medical supplies and other assets that would have been very useful right now.
• Stop the attack on independent contractors such as delivery drivers, who are making quarantines safer and easier for so many people, by trying to reclassify them as employees rather than independent contractors. The worst instance of this is the California state statute AB5, which has resulted in a lot of people losing employment—many of whom already worked form home.
• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should focus on its mission of disease control, and drop its campaigns against e-cigarettes and other disease-unrelated products.
• The CDC should ease methadone clinic regulations that often require long lines to form at clinics.
• Expanding right-to-try policies for medicines that have not yet been approved.
• Congress should repeal the Jones Act, which makes international shipping of medical supplies and other goods slower and more expensive. A forthcoming paper by CEI’s Mario Loyola makes that case in detail.

Already Proposed or Enacted

• There is a federal proposal to roll back a regulation forbidding doctors from using their personal phones for telehealth services for Medicare patients. This is currently allowed only in rural areas.
• The Department of Health and Human Services will allow doctors to practice medicine across state lines.
• New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu issued an emergency order allowing restaurants “to also order beer and wine from their favorite restaurants when ordering pickup or delivery.”
• New York is doing the same thing.
• Germany is allowing supermarkets to open on Sundays.
• The Transportation Security Administration is now allowing passengers to carry 12 ounces of hand sanitizers, up from 3.4 ounces.
• After years of attacking online college education, the Department of Education is now looking to ease restrictions on online courses at universities.
• The FDA is now allowing private companies to sell coronavirus tests without its approval.

This list is hopefully just the start. More ideas are coming in at the Twitter hashtag #NeverNeeded. Your ideas are welcome.

It was a rough week. Coronavirus infections and deaths continued to climb. Wall Street is officially in a bear market, and Congress and President Trump are considering all manner of unwise flash policies. All the major sports leagues postponed or canceled their seasons and tournaments, which will make quarantines even more difficult for many people. Even Disneyland is closed for the time being. Meanwhile, agencies issued new final regulations ranging from refrigerants to immigrant DNA.

On to the data:

• Last week, 62 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 59 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 43 minutes.
• Federal agencies have issued 621 final regulations in 2020. At that pace, there will be 3,105 new final regulations. Last year’s total was 2,964 regulations.
• There were also 35 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, for a total of 428 on the year. At that pace, there will be 2,140 new proposed regulations in 2020. Last year’s total was 2,184 proposed regulations.
• Last week, agencies published 420 notices, for a total of 4,285 in 2020. At that pace, there will be 21,425 new notices this year. Last year’s total was 21,804.
• Last week, 1,258 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,284 pages the previous week.
• The 2020 Federal Register totals 14,732 pages. It is on pace for 73,660 pages. The 2019 total was 76,288 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. Two 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 $180 million and $4.69 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 16 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far this year. 2019’s total was 66 significant final rules.
• So far in 2020, 120 new rules affect small businesses; six of them are classified as significant. 2019’s totals were 501 rules affecting small businesses, with 22 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

• Asphalt processing.
• Refrigerant venting.
• Collecting DNA from immigrant detainees.
• Regulations for apprenticeship programs.
• If you want to be an adviser to “certain rural business investment companies,” you must register with the Securities Exchange Commission.
• The Coast Guard is establishing a safety zone around the California Half Ironman Triathlon in Oceanside Harbor on April 4. Unfortunately, this may not matter if the event is canceled.
• Ditto with the San Diego Crew Classic.
• An EPA regulation for Recipient Organisms Eligible for Exemption from Tier I and Tier II.
• The Federal Reserve has new rules under Regulation D, which affects reserve requirements at banks.
• The overhead flight attendant rest compartment in Boeing 777 planes.

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

During the four-day week, Lawrence Tesler passed away. The underappreciated inventor created the cut, copy, and paste functions on computers. The Hair Club for Men also lost a client. Meanwhile, agencies issued new final regulations ranging from “biological products” to land erosion taxes.

On to the data:

• Last week, 53 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 66 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every three hours and 10 minutes.
• Federal agencies have issued 414 final regulations in 2020. At that pace, there will be 2,958 new final regulations. Last year’s total was 2,964 regulations.
• There were also 41 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, for a total of 306 on the year. At that pace, there will be 2,186 new proposed regulations in 2020. Last year’s total was 2,106 proposed regulations.
• Last week, agencies published 358 notices, for a total of 2,951 in 2020. At that pace, there will be 21,079 new notices this year. Last year’s total was 21,804.
• Last week, 1,551 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,271 pages the previous week.
• The 2020 Federal Register totals 10,268 pages. It is on pace for 73,343 pages. The 2019 total was 70,250 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. One such rule has been published this year. Four such rules were published in 2019.
• The running cost tally for 2020’s economically significant regulations is currently zero. 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 13 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far this year. 2019’s total was 66 significant final rules.
• So far in 2020, 81 new rules affect small businesses; four of them are classified as significant. 2019’s totals were 501 rules affecting small businesses, with 22 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

• The FDA has a new definition of the term “biological product.”
• Emissions from existing landfills in Delaware.
• Digital performance royalties.
• Golden tilefish quotas.
• Blue tilefish, too.
• The Copyright Office is adjusting its fees for inflation.
• A new IRS regulation literally concerns an eroding tax base. As in the tax treatment of land erosion.
• The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is adjusting its penalties for inflation.
• The Federal Railroad Administration’s Risk Reduction Program.
• Potentially shady foreigners investing in real estate.
• The FAA issued 10 final regulations last week.

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