Inertia Wins!

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.

The number of new regulations this year broke the 1,000 mark, and the number of rules affecting small businesses passed 200.

On to the data:

• Last week, 60 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 84 new final rules the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 2 hours and 48 minutes.
• So far in 2014, 1,012 final regulations have been published in the Federal Register. At that pace, there will be a total of 3,163 new regulations this year. This would be the lowest total in decades; this will likely change as the year goes on.
• Last week, 1,248 new pages were added to the Federal Register.
• Currently at 23,229 pages, the 2014 Federal Register is on pace for 72,591 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. 12 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 $1.64 billion to $2.01 billion. They also affect several billion dollars of government spending.
• 81 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” have been published so far this year.
• So far in 2014, 203 new rules affect small businesses; 27 of them are classified as significant.

Highlights from selected final rules published last week:

• The Energy Department revised its protocols for dealing with Freedom of Information Act requests.
• On May 8, there will be a fireworks show in Baltimore near the Patapsco River. The federal government is establishing a temporary safety zone in the area near the show.
• The Copyright Royalty Board established new royalty rates for certain types of recordings.
• The federal government employs a number of auto mechanics. A new regulation updates their pay.
• The Agricultural Marketing Service has lowered its assessment rate on spearmint oil growers in the Far West region from 10 cents to 9 cents per pound.
• Ballonbau Wörner GmbH balloons are subject to new airworthiness requirements from the FAA.
• Residents of the Milwaukee-Racine area in Wisconsin will be pleased to find out that they are now in compliance with the EPA’s fine particle air quality standards.
• New testing procedures for energy efficiency in refrigerators and freezers.

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