Category Archives: regulation

This week in the world of regulation:

• Last week, 66 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. This is down from 86 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 32 minutes — 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• All in all, 1,101 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.
• If this keeps up, the total tally for 2013 will be 3,464 new final rules.
• Last week, 1,307 new pages were added to the 2013 Federal Register, for a total of 24,940 pages.
• At its current pace, the 2013 Federal Register will run 76,976 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. No such rules wre published last week, for a total of 12 so far in 2013.
• The total estimated compliance costs of this year’s economically significant regulations ranges from $5.58 billion to $10.19 billion.
• So far, 84 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2013.
• So far this year, 202 final rules affect small business; 20 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• If you’re a dairy farmer from the Northeast, you need be more than just a good caretaker for your cows. You practically need to be a lawyer.
• The federal government sets the schedule for a drawbridge in Portland, Oregon that spans the Willamette River.
• Commercial driver’s license applicants in certain states no longer need to report out-of-state convictions in certain other states.
• New rule from the EPA regulating open burning in Oregon under the Clean Air Act.
• The federal government has a Processed Pear Committee.
• Revised wage controls for immigrant workers under the H-2B visa.
• If you grow Irish potatoes in Colorado, be aware of new handling regulations.
• Critical habitat designated for desert buckwheat.

For more data, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

• Audi has invented headlights that can “illuminate around corners and throw brighter-than-average beams. They’re also smarter, adjusting automatically to traffic, pedestrians, and road conditions.” But they can’t sell them in the U.S. because regulations require headlights to have distinct high and low settings. Audi is hoping to convince the government to modernize the rules to allow for their continuously adjusting lights.
• Economist David Henderson finds out that under Proposition 65, it is illegal to ship red licorice to California unless the packaging has a cancer warning label printed on it.
• Washington, D.C. is mulling food truck regulations that would essentially ban them from selling their delicious wares in the city’s downtown. At least one food truck, Pinup Panini, has already ceased operations because of the proposed rules.
• Meanwhile, across the Potomac, Arlington, Virginia will allow food trucks to park in the same spot for two hours instead of the current one hour.
• Montreal has ended its 65-year ban on street food.
• New York City entrepreneurs trying to start a new pizza parlor have turned to Kickstarter to raise $50,000. Most of the money will go towards regulatory compliance costs.
• Bus drivers in Marseilles, France are planning a one-day strike because their new uniform pants are too tight.
• Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission has had a long and cozy relationship with existing cab companies, and has denied permits to startups who would compete with them. With the Institute for Justice’s help, Mile High Cab, one of the denied entrants, sued. They won, and now people in Denver will have more transportation options. IJ recently celebrated a similar victory in Milwaukee.
• North Carolina is mulling requiring criminal background checks for dog owners.
• In Florida, it is apparently against the law to catch and keep Spanish mackerel fish unless you measure them.

This week in the world of regulation:

• Last week, 86 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. This is up from 67 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every  hour and fifty seven minutes — 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• All in all, 1,035 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.
• If this keeps up, the total tally for 2013 will be 3,466 new final rules.
• Last week, 1,368 new pages were added to the 2013 Federal Register, for a total of 23,633 pages.
• At its current pace, the 2013 Federal Register will run 77,741 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. One such rule was published last week, for a total of 12 so far in 2013.
• The total estimated compliance costs of this year’s economically significant regulations ranges from $5.58 billion to $10.19 billion.
• So far, 83 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2013.
• So far this year, 188 final rules affect small business; 20 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• This week’s economically significant rule sets new energy conservation standards for distribution transformers. The cost analysis is rather convoluted, but it will impose about $62.2 million in costs to manufacturers. Other costs are estimated to $2.89 billion using a 7 percent discount rate, or $5.22 billion using a 4 percent discount rate.
• The FCC issued another tinkering with its Broadband Plan for America.
• Yet another Navy regulation for preventing collisions at sea. Must be much more difficult than it would appear.
• The EPA issued a minor correction (fixing typos) to a rule allowing sorghum to be used to make ethanol.
• It also issued a minor correction for its mandatory greenhouse gas reporting rules.
• New federal rules for training and retraining miners.
• In a nod to postmodernism, the FDIC has revised its regulations for reviewing regulations.

For more data, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

This week in the world of regulation:

• Last week, 67 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. This is up from 56 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and thirty minutes — 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• All in all, 949 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.
• If this keeps up, the total tally for 2013 will be 3,396 new final rules.
• Last week, 1,368 new pages were added to the 2013 Federal Register, for a total of 22,116 pages.
• At its current pace, the 2013 Federal Register will run 77,874 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. No such rules were published last week, for a total of 11 so far in 2013.
• The total estimated compliance costs of this year’s economically significant regulations ranges from $2.632 billion to $4.910 billion.
• So far, 77 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2013.
• So far this year, 166 final rules affect small business; 20 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• If you grow apricots in certain parts of Washington state, the Agricultural Marketing Service is lowering its assessment tax from $1.50 to $0.50 per ton. Washington farmers who grow cherries and pears are also having their assessments lowered.
• The Coast Guard regulates when the drawbridge in Rock Island, Illinois goes up and down. One would think that the city could manage this on its own.
• The FCC has revised its rules for wireless signal boosters.
• The Defense Department runs a homeless shelter program

For more data, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

This week in the world of regulation:

• Last week, 56 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. This is down from 100 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every three hours — 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• All in all, 882 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.
• If this keeps up, the total tally for 2013 will be 3,389 new final rules.
• Last week, 1,386 new pages were added to the 2013 Federal Register, for a total of 19,362 pages.
• At its current pace, the 2013 Federal Register will run 78,591 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. One such rule was published last week, for a total of 11 so far in 2013.
• The total estimated compliance costs of this year’s economically significant regulations ranges from $2.632 billion to $4.910 billion.
• So far, 72 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2013.
• So far this year, 158 final rules affect small business; 20 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• This week’s economically significant rule changes the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to save an estimated $158 million of government spending in FY 2013, and a total of $663 million over 5 years. Because this is government spending and not compliance costs, I am scoring this rule as zero-cost in our running compliance cost tally.
• New ambient air quality standards for Ohio from the EPA.
• The federal government has given the state of Oregon permission to give individuals permission to study landfills.
• The EPA has withdrawn a recent rule regarding greenhouse gas reporting. To the EPA’s credit, it cites adverse public comments as its reason for scrapping the rule. Regulatory commenters take note: you do make a difference.

For more data, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

This week in the world of regulation:

• Last week, 100 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. This is down from 60 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every hour and 41 minutes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• All in all, 826 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.
• If this keeps up, the total tally for 2013 will be 3,426 new final rules.
• Last week, 1,526 new pages were added to the 2013 Federal Register, for a total of 19,362 pages.
• At its current pace, the 2013 Federal Register will run 79,353 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. For the third week in a row, no such rules were published, keeping the total at 10 so far in 2013.
• The total estimated compliance costs of this year’s economically significant regulations ranges from $2.632 billion to $4.910 billion.
• So far, 67 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2013.
• So far this year, 151 final rules affect small business; 20 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• The federal government sets the prevailing wages for immigrants working under H-2B visas for temporary non-agricultural employment. As CEI analysts have noted, the sheer complexity of America’s immigration system provides a powerful incentive to bypass the system and emigrate illegally.
• New particulate matter standards for Ohio, courtesy of the EPA.
• The Social Security Administration is changing its definition of “visual disorders.”
• The Navy is updating its policies for avoiding collisions at sea.
• Now that it’s 2013, the Homeland Security Department is updating its Form I-94 include an electronic format.

For more data, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.