Inertia Wins!

This week in the world of regulation:

• Last week, 38 new final rules were published, down from 88 the previous week. Note that it was a short work week due to the Columbus Day holiday.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 4 hours and 25 minutes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• All in all, 2,987 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.
• If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,823 new rules.
• Last week, 1,187 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register, for a total of 62,322 pages.
• At its current pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 78,690 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. The 40 such rules published so far in 2012 have compliance costs of at least $17.4 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.
• No economically significant rules were published last week.
• So far, 296 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2012.
• So far this year, 565 final rules affect small business; 83 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• The FAA has clarified the definition of “night.”
• Banks with more than $10 billion of assets are now required to take annual stress tests.
• According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the area around Wallops Island and Chinocteague Inlet is a danger zone.
• If you are an amateur rocket operator and you were thinking of applying for a voluntary license, a relevant rule’s effective date has been delayed.

For more data, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.

An unsigned editorial in today’s Investor’s Business Daily describes the impact that federal regulations have on the manufacturing sector. The picture isn’t pretty; a new American Action Forum report estimates that they lower total output from 2 to 10 percent. Along the way, the writers also cite this week’s Battered Business Bureau post:

The Competitive Enterprise Institute tells us that the federal government churned out last week a new regulation at the rate of one every hour and 55 minutes.

By the end of this year, the bureaucratic machine will have produced 3,868 new regulations spread out over 78,783 pages of the federal register.

Just another week in the world of regulation:

•  88 new final rules were published last week, up from 71 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every 1 hour and 55 minutes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• All in all, 2,949 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.
• If this keeps up, the total tally for 2012 will be 3,868 new rules.
• 1519 new pages were added to the 2012 Federal Register last week, for a total of 61,135 pages.
• At its current pace, the 2012 Federal Register will run 78,783 pages.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. The 40 such rules published so far in 2012 have compliance costs of at least $17.4 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.
• So far, 296 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2012.
• So far this year, 563 final rules affect small business. 83 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:

• Last week’s economically significant regulation only costs an estimated $5.232 to $6.832 million. That’s because, as an anti-bioterrorism regulation, its estimated benefits are automatically estimated in the billions of dollars, well exceeding the $100 million threshold for economic significance. As always, I have used the lower $5.232 million figure for this year’s running compliance cost tally.
• If you want to volunteer for the federal government’s Senior Companions or Foster Grandparents programs, or for AmeriCorps, you will now have to undergo a “fingerprint-based FBI criminal history check.”
• The federal government has an Interstate Telecommunications Relay Service Fund to help people with speech and hearing disabilities use telephones. A new rule published on Thursday aims to reduce the amount of fraud and abuse in the program.
• If you are planning on fishing for silky sharks, read this new regulation first.
• The Federal Energy Regulation Commission has revised page 700 of FERC Form No. 6.

For more data, go to TenThousandCommandments.com.