Category Archives: regulation

The Federal Register passed the 30,000-page mark on Friday, at least by unadjusted page count. After accounting for skips and blank pages, the adjusted count, which this series tracks, stands at a still-impressive 29,967 pages, and will shoot past 30,000 pages on Tuesday.

On to the data:

• Last week, 66 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 77 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 33 minutes.
• So far in 2014, 1,290 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 3,225 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
• Last week, 1,397 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
• Currently at 29,967 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for 74,918 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. 17 such rules have been published so far this year, one of them in the past week.
• The total estimated compliance costs of 2014’s economically significant regulations currently ranges from $1.77 billion to $2.14 billion. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
• 110 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2014, 254 new rules affect small businesses; 36 of them are classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• This week’s economically significant rule comes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The rule says nary a word about compliance costs, so I am scoring it as zero-cost for our running compliance cost tally. But it does claim to save more than $1.6 billion in government spending over the period 2015-24 in the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D programs.
• The EPA revised its standards for venting refrigerants.
• The EPA also issued air quality regulations for California, Idaho,  Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Oregon.
• Implementation of the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement continues.
• Advantame is now allowed as a food additive.
• The southern white rhino is now a threatened species.

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

Another normal week in the regulatory world, with nearly 80 rules covering everything from fireworks shows to walk-in freezers.

On to the data:

• Last week, 77 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 58 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 11 minutes.
• So far in 2014, 1,224 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 3,221 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
• Last week, 1,772 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
• Currently at 28,570 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for 75,185 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. 16 such rules have been published so far this year, one of them in the past week.
• The total estimated compliance costs of 2014’s economically significant regulations currently ranges from $1.77 billion to $2.14 billion. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
• 104 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2014, 245 new rules affect small businesses; 33 of them are classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• This week’s economically significant rule comes from the Defense Department. It pays for a number of voluntary outside educational programs for its employees, which accounted for $84 billion in spending during FY 2013. Administrative costs and other compliance issues cost an estimated $413,500, which is all that I’m adding to our running compliance cost tally.
• On May 17, there was a fireworks show in the San Diego Bay. The federal government established a safety zone near where the fireworks were set off.
• If you grow cotton and would like to know what grade it is, be glad the Agricultural Marketing Service is keeping its cotton grading prices the same as last year – $2.20 per bale.
• Ambient air quality standards for Iowa.
• Georgia, too.
• Energy efficiency standards for walk-in coolers and freezers.

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

Despite nearly 60 new regulations and more than 1,300 Federal Register pages, regulations remain on a below-average pace this year.

On to the data:

• Last week, 58 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 77 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 54 minutes.
• So far in 2014, 1,147 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 3,186 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
• Last week, 1,345 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
• Currently at 26,798 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for 74,439 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. 15 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 $1.77 billion to $2.14 billion. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
• 97 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2014, 235 new rules affect small businesses; 32 of them are classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• The EPA issued new rules for burning wood in Washington State.
• Also in Washington State are new handling regulations for potatoes grown there.
• The Treasury Department is issuing sanctions related to the situation in Ukraine.
• The Fish and Wildlife Service is establishing a “nonessential experimental population” of wood bison in Alaska.
• Kentucky glade cress is now considered a threatened species, and is receiving approximately 2,053 acres of critical habitat.
• The Salt Creek tiger beetle‘s previously designated critical habitat has been revised. It covers approximately 1,110 acres.

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

A 2,200-page surge pushed the Federal Register over the 25,000-page mark. Nearly a quarter of the page count comes from a single EPA regulation, about which more below.

On to the data:

• Last week, 77 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 60 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 11 minutes.
• So far in 2014, 1,089 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 3,203 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
• Last week, 2,224 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
• Currently at 25,453 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for 74,862 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. 15 such rules have been published so far this year, three of them in the past week.
• The total estimated compliance costs of 2014’s economically significant regulations currently ranges from $1.77 billion to $2.14 billion. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
• 88 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2014, 225 new rules affect small businesses; 32 of them are classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• The EPA issued a 474-page regulation setting new emissions standards for automobiles. They estimate the cost to be about $60 per vehicle, though the agency is coy about the number of vehicles it would affect, thus making a total cost estimate impossible. It could be $60 million per year (1 million vehicles), or it could be $600 million (10 million vehicles). My colleague William Yeatman tells me the rule is also expected to impose $2.53 billion in fuel costs annually. Since that figure isn’t government data, and the government data that is available is less than forthcoming, I am assigning this rule the bare minimum of $100 million necessary to meet its economically significant designation for our running compliance cost tally. I will gladly revise it if the EPA issues a transparent cost estimate.
• New rules for importing cape gooseberry fruit from Colombia.
• Another rule for preventing collisions at sea.
• Coal miners will now be required to wear continuous personal dust monitors.
• The IRS issued a correction for its health insurance reporting requirements.
• The FCC maintains political files on television stations. It recently expanded its reporting requirements.
• The Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog and the northern distinct population segment of the mountain yellow-legged frog are now endangered species. The same rule also lists the Yosemite toad as threatened.

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

The 2014 edition of Wayne Crews’ annual Ten Thousand Commandments report comes out today; you can read it here. The report gives a big-picture view of the size and scope of federal regulations. This is something the government should be doing on its own as a basic transparency measure. But they don’t, so Wayne is kind enough to fill in the gap.

Most people know that the federal government will spend $3.5 trillion this year, but very few people know that federal regulations will cost nearly $1.9 trillion above and beyond that spending. A few of the other major findings from this year’s 10KC:

• This is the 21st edition of Ten Thousand Commandments. In that time, 87,282 final rules have been issued. That’s more than 3,500 per year, or about nine per day.

• The “Unconstitutionality Index” is the ratio of regulations issued by agencies compared to legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by the president. The ratio stood at 51 for 2013. That means there were 72 new laws and 3,659 new rules – 51 rules for every law, or a new rule every 2 ½ hours.

• Regulatory costs amount to an average of $14,974 per household – 23 percent of the average household income of $65,596 and 29 percent of the expenditure budget of $51,442. This exceeds every item in the household budget except housing – more than health care, food, transportation, entertainment, apparel, services, and savings. Some 63 departments, agencies and commissions have regulations in the pipeline.

• The 2013 Federal Register contains 79,311 pages, the fourth highest ever. The top two all-time totals are 81,405 pages in 2010 and 81,247 in 2011, both under Obama.

If you don’t feel like wading through the whole report, Investor’s Business Daily summarizes the study in an editorial in today’s edition, as does the Washington Times and the Washington Examiner’s Mark Tapscott. The Wall Street Journal and Washington Examiner weighed in previously. Wayne also talked about 10KC on Fox News this week, and of course, the primary source is here.