Tag Archives: federal register

Federal Register Hits 40,000 Pages

Posted on July 19, 2010 | 1 comment

I’m a bit late getting to this, but an SEC “Order Approving Proposed Rule Change Relating to the Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.” pushed the 2010 Federal Register to the 40,000 page mark on Tuesday.

The Federal Register’s page growth has been accelerating as the year has progressed. It is currently on pace for 76,536 pages. That’s about 2,000 pages more than the Bush administration’s average. In January, the projected page count was only 63,187 pages.

Earlier in the year, an average day’s volume contained 278 pages. Now it’s up to 306 pages per day. As new rules hit the books as required by the health care bill, the financial regulation bill, and other legislation, the pace could pick up further. And if Democrats lose control of Congress, we can expect a very busy lame duck session.

The Code of Federal Regulations already weighs in at 157,000 pages. It will probably be pushing 160,000 before too long.

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Federal Register hits 30,000 Pages

Posted on May 28, 2010 | Comments Off on Federal Register hits 30,000 Pages

With a notice from the Defense Department that it is selling $122 million of equipment to Great Britain, the 2010 Federal Register passed 30,000 pages.

After 103 working days, the total page count is 30,265. Assuming 250 working days in a year, this year’s Federal Register is on pace for 73,459 pages.

The average count during the Bush administration was 73,416 pages.

Like most of President Obama’s policies, this represents less than a one percent change from the Bush years.

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Federal Register Hits 25,000 Pages

Posted on May 6, 2010 | Comments Off on Federal Register Hits 25,000 Pages

This morning, the 2010 Federal Register passed the 25,000 page mark with an “Issuance of Order for Implementation of Additional Security Measures and Fingerprinting for Unescorted Access to Florida Power and Light Company” from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

After 87 working days, the Federal Register stands at 25,098 pages. That’s an average of 288 pages every single day of proposed rules, final rules, notices, and other federal doings.

Assuming 250 working days in a year, the Register is on pace for 72,121 pages, a slight increase over 2009’s 69,676 pages.

Back in January, it was on pace for a mere 63,187 pages. The pace has been accelerating since.

Can President Obama top President Bush’s final Federal Register, which ran to 79,435 pages? We shall see what the coming months bring.

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Regulation of the Day 136: Off the Record

Posted on April 30, 2010 | Comments Off on Regulation of the Day 136: Off the Record

If you work for the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a regulation requires you to keep records of your off-the-record communications.

Which means off-the-record communications aren’t really off the record.

In fact, 18 CFR 385.2201(b) requires FERC to post a notice in the Federal Register whenever this happens. There was one today, for example. It’s public!

Which brings up the following conundrum: if FERC policy is that off-the-record communications are actually on the record, then there are no off-the-record communications. Therefore, regulations applying to off-the-record communications are at best redundant , because there are no off-the-record comments.

Oh, never mind.

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Federal Register Reaches 10,000 Pages

Posted on March 4, 2010 | Comments Off on Federal Register Reaches 10,000 Pages

The 2010 Federal Register passed the 10,000 page mark this morning. It hit the milestone with a State Department request for grant proposals for a “One-time Competitive Grants Program – Competition A – Academic Programs.” $8,000,000 of grants are available if you’re interested.

I noted earlier that it only took 4 working days to top 1,000 pages. Now, after 42 working days, the grand total is 10,158. That’s an average of 242 new pages of rules and notices every working day.

Assuming 250 working days this year, the 2010 Federal Register is on pace to reach 60,464 pages. This would be substantially lower than last year’s figure of 68,598. Part of the slowdown is likely due to the four-day federal shutdown from last month’s snow storms. Another factor is a relative lack of major legislation (so far), as often happens in election years.

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That Didn’t Take Long

Posted on January 7, 2010 | 3 comments

Today is the fourth working day of the new year. The Federal Register is already over 1,000 pages long.

At this rate, the 2010 Federal Register will hit 63,187 pages. This is an improvement over 2009, when it reached 69,676 pages. In 2008, it was 79,435 pages.

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