Category Archives: regulation

Just another week in the world of regulation:

• 65 new final rules were published last week, up from 58 the previous (holiday-shortened) week. That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 35 minutes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All in all, 1,629 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year. If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,726 new rules.
• 1,298 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register last week, for a total of 34,127 pages. At this pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 76,863 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. The 24 such rules published so far in 2012 have compliance costs of at least $14.5 billion. Two of the rules do not have cost estimates, and a third cost estimate does not give a total annual cost. We assume that rules lacking this basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.
• No economically significant rules were published last week. So far, 187 significant final rules have been published in 2012.
• So far this year, 311 final rules affect small businesses. 50 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, of all agencies, is revising federal regulations for certifying substance abuse experts.
• The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is strengthening enforcement for violations of the Horse Protection Act.
• Just in time for the release of Men in Black 3, ATF published new residency requirements for aliens acquiring firearms.
• The Fish and Wildlife Service has changed its official taxonomy for the African wild ass from Equus asinus to Equus africanus.

For more data, updated daily, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

The 2012 edition of “Ten Thousand Commandments” is out now. If you don’t feel like reading all 66 pages (though I recommend you do!), Wayne Crews and I sum up the main findings and offer a few institution-level reforms in a short piece at The American Spectator:

Politicians love to blame unregulated markets for America’s economic troubles. But… those unregulated markets are hard to find. The federal government lists all of its regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations. It is more than 169,000 pages long and growing. Last year alone, 3,807 new final rules were published in the Federal Register — more than 10 per day. In 2010, it was 3,573 new rules.

And here’s just one of our reform ideas:

Just as Congress is supposed to pass a budget every year for what it spends, it should pass a regulatory budget. If it caps regulatory burdens at, say, $1 trillion, it would then have to prioritize which rules it believes provide the most bang for the buck. Voters would also know when Congress votes to increase regulatory costs, giving members at least some incentive to keep regulation in check.

The fight for real regulatory reform is a long one, not least because neither party has shown the seriousness needed to see it through. But the only way to win is to fight.

Read the whole thing here.

Just another week in the world of regulation:

• 58 new final rules were published during the short work week last week, down from 95 the previous week. That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 54 minutes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All in all, 1,564 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year. If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,741 new rules.
• 1,347 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register last week, for a total of 32,829 pages. At this pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 77,427 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. The 24 such rules published so far in 2012 have compliance costs of at least $14.5 billion. Two of the rules do not have cost estimates, and a third cost estimate does not give a total annual cost. We assume that rules lacking this basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.
• Two economically significant rules were published last week. So far, 180 significant final rules have been published in 2012.
• So far this year, exactly 300 final rules affect small businesses. 48 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• The two new economically significant rules come from the Energy Department. One rule sets new energy efficiency standards for dishwashers, the other for washing machines.
• If you’re a lobster fisherman in Maine, you should be aware of some new regulations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• HHS issued a correction to its health care bill-related rules for creating health insurance exchanges. If states continue to refuse to create the exchanges, and depending on how the Supreme Court case goes, it may end up a moot point.

For more data, updated daily, go to TenThousandCommandments.com

Just another week in the world of regulation:

• 95 new final rules were published last week, up from 84 the previous week. That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every hour and 46 minutes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All in all, 1,583 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year. If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,968 new rules.
• 1,628 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register last week, for a total of 31,432 pages. At this pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 77,040 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. The 22 such rules published so far in 2012 have compliance costs of at least $14.3 billion. Two of the rules do not have cost estimates, and a third cost estimate does not give a total annual cost. We assume that rules lacking this basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.
• No economically significant rules were published last week. So far, 172 significant final rules have been published in 2012.
• So far this year, 292 final rules affect small businesses. 40 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• Good news on the international trade front: the International Trade Administration published a rule withdrawing a tariff quota on imported fabric that expired in 2009 (timely!). The rule also repeals rules for short supply procedures. “Short supply procedures” means that when domestic supply falls short of demand, the government blocks fewer imports than usual to ease the shortage. Now the ITA will stay out of the way entirely, as far as cotton is concerned. This bit of housecleaning came about through President Obama’s January 2011 Executive Order, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.”
• The official legal meaning of the term “unblockable drain” has been revised, thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
• It is against federal rules for a commercial driver to make entries to an automatic on-board recording device while his vehicle is in motion. A new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rule specifies that it’s ok for anyone else in the vehicle to do so.
• Morelet’s crocodile is no longer an endangered species, though the crocs “will remain protected under the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.”

For more data, updated daily, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

Just another week in the world of regulation:

• 62 new final rules were published last week, down from 70 the previous week. That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 43 minutes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All in all, 1,384 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year. If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,838 new rules.
• 1,577 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register last week, for a total of 28,191 pages. At this pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 76,606 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. The 20 such rules published so far in 2012 have compliance costs of at least $15.4 billion. Two of the rules do not have cost estimates, and a third cost estimate does not give a total annual cost. We assume that rules lacking this basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.
• One economically significant rule was published last week. There were a total of 5 significant actions last week, as defined by Executive Order 12866. So far, 152 significant final rules have been published in 2012.
• 12 of last week’s final rules affect small business. So far this year, 259 final rules affect small businesses. 40 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• An economically significant rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services implements section 2401 of the Affordable Care Act. It increases this year’s federal Medicaid spending by $820 million, and this year’s state Medicaid spending by $480 million. Since these costs are government spending instead of compliance costs, I am scoring it as zero-cost for this year’s compliance cost tally.
• Just in time for summer, the FDA published a rule delaying implementation of an earlier rule amending its surprisingly detailed sunscreen regulations.
• The EPA is liberalizing its [alpha]-[p-(1,1,3,3-Tetramethylbutyl)phenyl]-[omega]- hydroxypoly(oxyethylene) tolerance requirements for pesticides. A separate rule liberalizes “residues of α-(p-nonylphenol)-ω-hydroxypoly(oxyethylene) mixture of dihydrogen phosphate and monohydrogen phosphate esters and the corresponding ammonium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and zinc salts of the phosphate esters and α-(p-nonylphenol)-ω-hydroxypoly(oxyethylene) sulfate, ammonium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and zinc salts” in pesticides.
• If you want to get a commercial driver’s license, you should be aware of new federal minimum standards.

For more data, updated daily, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

Just another week in the world of regulation:

• 70 new final rules were published last week, down from 81 the previous week. That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 24 minutes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All in all, 1,265 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year. If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,704 new rules.
• 1,307 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register last week, for a total of 26,614 pages. At this pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 76,478 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. The 19 such rules published so far in 2012 have compliance costs of at least $15.4 billion. Two of the rules do not have cost estimates, and a third cost estimate does not give a total annual cost. We assume that rules lacking this basic transparency measure cost the bare minimum of $100 million per year. The true cost is almost certainly higher.
• One economically significant rule was published last week. There were a total of 8 significant actions last week, as defined by Executive Order 12866. So far, 147 significant final rules have been published in 2012.
• 4 of last week’s final rules affect small business. So far this year, 247 final rules affect small businesses. 36 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• Changes to the Pell Grant Program would “prohibit a student from receiving two consecutive Pell Grants in a single award year.” This is estimated to save $24.3 billion over 5 years. The rule is classified as economically significant, but since it affects government spending and not compliance costs, I am scoring it as zero-cost for this year’s compliance cost tally.
• The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA) was passed in 2000. Now that it’s 2012, the Postal Service published a new rule amending its seizure and forfeiture policies to make them CAFRA-compliant.
• If you are a clinical investigator, you may want to read a new FDA rule makes it easier for the agency to disqualify clinical investigators.
• The federal government has an Underground Storage Tank Program. Really, it does. But if a state doesn’t want to participate, it can opt out if it implements its own Underground Storage Tank Program. Oregon apparently didn’t like the federal program, and now its state program has just been approved.

For more data, updated daily, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.