Category Archives: regulation

Despite Friday’s Federal Register containing an impressive 853 pages, regulations continued their relatively slow pace. If this keeps up, 2014 will see the fewest regulations issued in decades.

On to the data:

• Last week, 55 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 52 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every three hours and 3 minutes.
• So far in 2014, 268 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 2,577 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
• Last week, 1,487 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
• Currently at 7,563 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for 72,722 pages, which would be the lowest total since 2007.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. Four 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 is currently $1.6 million. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
• 30 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2014, 50 new rules affect small businesses; 8 of them are classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• New Zealand isn’t the only place where kiwifruit can grow. In fact, the federal government has a Kiwifruit Administrative Committee that you can follow on Twitter. The Committee works with growers in California, and announced on Friday that they are lowering their assessment rate.
• New energy conservation standards for dehumidifiers.
• NASA repealed some personnel reliability regulations that it deems obsolete. This is exactly the kind of regulatory housekeeping that every agency should do at least annually.
• The EPA approved regional haze standards for Minnesota and Michigan.

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

Despite Friday’s Federal Register containing an impressive 853 pages, regulations continued their relatively slow pace. If this keeps up, 2014 will see the fewest regulations issued in decades.

On to the data:

• Last week, 52 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 43 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every three hours and 14 minutes.
• So far in 2014, 216 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 2,572 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
• Last week, 1,808 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
• Currently at 5,264 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for exactly 62,667 pages, which would be the lowest total since 1995.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. Four 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 is currently $1.6 million. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
• 26 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2014, 38 new rules affect small businesses. Seven of them are classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a rule from the Dodd-Frank bill that is a model of bad transparency. The text of the rule states: “This CFTC Rule is being promulgated exclusively under section 13 of the BHC. Therefore, the Commission did not conduct a cost benefit consideration under Section 15(a) of the Commodity Exchange Act. Similarly, Executive Orders 12866 and 13563, referenced by some commenters, do not impose obligations on the CFTC.”
• The federal government has a Citrus Administrative Committee. It is raising the assessment it charges certain citrus growers in Florida.
• The federal government also has a California Date Administrative Committee. It is lowering its assessment for date growers in Riverside County.
• Eleven new EPA regulations.

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

It was a four-day work week due to Martin Luther King Day. This made for another light week on the regulatory front, with the Federal Register held under 1,000 pages for the first time since last year’s government shutdown.

On to the data:

• Last week, 43 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 57 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every three hours and 54 minutes.
• So far in 2014, 164 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 2,563 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
• Last week, 962 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
• Currently at 3,456 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for exactly 54,000 pages, which would be the lowest total since 1990.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. Four 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 is currently $1.6 million. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
• 21 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2014, 29 new rules affect small businesses. Six of them are classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• FEMA released a series of flood elevation determinations for various communities at risk of flooding.
• The IRS issued a correction of an earlier rule on health insurance provider fees that removes a parenthesis.
• In Middle Township, New Jersey, there is a drawbridge that crosses the Grassy Sound. The federal government regulates when it goes up and down.
• The EPA approved air quality plans for West Virginia, Delaware, and Oregon.

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

It was another slow week, with only 57 new regulations; the usual number is closer to 70. Even so, agencies issued new rules for everything from how to shoe a horse to fees for avocado growers in south Florida. The Federal Register also broke the 3,000-page mark.

On to the data:

• Last week, 57 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 38 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 57 minutes.
• So far in 2014, 121 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 2,521 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
• Last week, 1,543 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
• Currently at 3,294 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for 68,625 pages, which would be the lowest total since 2001.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. Four such rules have been published so far this year, two of them in the past week.
• The total estimated compliance costs of 2014’s economically significant regulations is currently $1.6 million. They affect several billion dollars of government spending.
• 20 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2014, 21 new rules affect small businesses. Six of them are classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• There are federal regulations for how to shoe a horse. A new rule outlines minimum penalties for violating them.
• If you grow avocados in south Florida, the Agricultural Marketing Service has raised its cut from 25 cents to 30 cents per bushel. It also plans to spend $175,000 this year on avocado research, along with nearly $120,000 in salaries and another $51,500 in employee benefits.
• If you are planning on importing archaeological artifacts from Bulgaria, read this new regulation first.
• New safety standards for bedside sleepers.
• New guidelines for lobster harvesting in Hawaii.
• The TSA issued security rules for aircraft repair stations.

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

The first full week of 2014 was a light one, despite more than 1,500 Federal Register pages. The number of new regulations was about half the usual number, and none of them meet the $100 million per year “economically significant” threshold.

On to the data:

• Last week, 38 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 66 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every four hours and 25 minutes.
• So far in 2014, 64 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 2,286 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
• Last week, 1,543 new pages were added to the Federal Register. It is on pace for 73,929 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. Two 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 is currently zero. They affect nearly $20 billion of government spending, but their impact estimates mostly avoid discussion of compliance costs, so I am scoring them as zero-cost for purposes of this tally.
• 15 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2014, 14 new rules affect small businesses. Two of them are classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• The Personnel Management Office is making changes to life insurance and health benefits for federal employees.
• The FAA had a busy week, with 9 new rules. See them all here.
• The EPA also issued 9 new rules. Most of them are air quality rules for various states, along with a rule for pesticides. See them all here.
• The SEC updated the job description for its General Counsel.
• The Cape Sable thoroughwort, a small plant native to Florida, is the unwitting recipient of nearly 11,000 acres of critical habitat in Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties.

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

As Wayne Crews pointed out earlier, 2013 was a busy year for regulation. And 2014 is off to a rollicking start, with more than 500 Federal Register pages in just two working days.

On to the data:

• Last week, 66 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 two hours and 32 minutes.
• In 2013, a total of 3,619 final rules were published in the Federal Register.
• So far in 2014, 26 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 3,250 new regulations this year.
• Last week, 1,706 new pages were added to the 2013 Federal Register. The 2013 edition topped out at 80,330 pages, the third-largest in the Register’s 78-year history.
• The 2014 edition of the Federal Register is sitting at 527 pages after two days. It is on pace for 65.875 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. There were 40 such rules in 2013. Two such rules have been published so far in 2014.
• The total estimated compliance costs of 2013’s economically significant regulations ranges from $6.42 billion to $11.83 billion.
•  331 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” were published in 2013. The tally for 2014 is 8.
• In 2013, 718 new final rules affect small businesses; 107 of them are significant rules. So far in 2014, one new rule affects small businesses. It is not classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• One of last week’s economically significant rules involves premium payments from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The rule involves some accounting arcana. As the rule states, “large-plan flat-rate premium deferral will cause a one-time shift of about $1.5 billion (attributable primarily to calendar year plans) from one fiscal year to the next.” I am scoring it as zero-cost in the running compliance cost tally.
• The other economically significant rule involves school lunches, on which the federal government will spend more than $16 billion in 2014. This rule continues the phase-in of new standards. To incentivize states to play along, the “estimated cost of Federal performance-based reimbursements (and the value of additional SFA revenue) is $1.54 billion through FY 2017.” Since this involves government spending and not compliance costs, I am scoring this rule as zero-cost.
• New regulations for importing avocados and apricots from continental Spain.
• The Federal Reserve issued a prohibition against federal assistance to swaps entities.
• New testing procedures to furnace fan energy efficiency.

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