This week in ridiculous regulations: service lamps and summer meals

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Congress debated aid bills to Ukraine and Israel. Donald Trump's hush money trial began. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from incinerator permits to effluent analysis.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 59 final regulations last week, after 69 the previous week.
• That's the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 51 minutes.
• With 896 final regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 2,909 final regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 3,018 new final regulations in 2023, 3,168 in 2022, and 3,257 in 2021.
• Agencies issued 36 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 44 the previous week.
• With 571 proposed regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 1,854 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,102 proposed regulations in 2023, 2,044 in 2022, and 2,094 in 2021.
• Agencies published 486 notices last week, after 399 notices the previous week.
• With 6,919 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 22,464 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,902 notices in 2023, 22,505 in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 3,141 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,764 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2024 contains 360 pages.
• With 29,246 pages so far, the 2024 Federal Register is on pace for 94,955 pages.
• For comparison, the 2023 Federal Register totals 90,402 pages, the 2022 Federal Register has 80,756 pages, and 2021's is 74,352 pages. The all-time record adjusted page count (subtracting skips, jumps, and blank pages) is 96,994, set in 2016.
• Rules with $200 million or more of economic effects in at least one year qualify as major under Section 3(f)(1). This replaces the former economically significant tag for $100 million-plus regulations. There are five such rules so far in 2024, with none in the last week.
• This is on pace for 17 3(f)(1) regulations in 2024.
• For comparison, there were 28 3(f)(1) and/or economically significant regulations in 2023, 43 economically significant rules in 2022, and 26 in 2021. Note that these are not apples-to-apples comparisons, since 3(f)(1) and economically significant rules have different thresholds.
• The total estimated cost of 2024's 3(f)(1) major regulations ranges from net savings of $17.83 billion to net savings of $21.12 billion, per the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
• For comparison, the cost tally for 2023's 3(f)(1) major and economically significant regulations ranges from $62.60 billion to 90.48 billion. Cost estimates for 2022's economically significant rules range $45.28 billion to $78.05 billion. In 2021, net costs ranged from $13.54 billion to $1992 billion. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There were five new final regulations meeting the broader definition of "significant" last week, after 15 the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 106 new regulations meeting the broader definition of "significant." This is on pace for 344 significant regulations in 2024.
• For comparison, there were 290 such regulations in 2023, 255 in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2024, 215 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 698. Twenty-one of them are significant, on pace for 68.
• For comparison, in 2023 there were 789 regulations affecting small businesses, 79 of them significant. In 2022 there were 912 regulations affecting small businesses, 70 of them significant. 2021's totals were 912 regulations affecting small businesses, 101 of them significant.

Highlights from last week's new final regulations:

• The definition of "engaged in the business" for firearms dealers.
• Settling administrative disputes over drug prices.
• Implementing the HAVANA Act.
• Implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
• Recommendations for aviation emergencies.
• Non-congregate summer meals.
• Energy conservation tests for uninterruptible power supplies.
• Energy conservation standards for general service lamps.
• Baloxavir and Marboxil packaging.
• The Social Security Administration is expanding the definition of a public assistance household.
• All-in pricing for cable and satellite tv.
• Multi-pollution standards for model year 2027 and later vehicles.
• Respirable crystalline silica.
• Food stamp revisions.
• Deceptive remittances.
• Incinerator permits.
• Zimbabwe sanctions.
• Effluent analysis.
• Telemarketing.

And from last week's proposed regulations:

• Cherry restriction percentages.
• Tax treatment of donor advised funds.
• The whitespotted eagle ray will likely not be listed as threatened or endangered.
• The FDIC is requesting comment on proposed bank merger policies.
• Price changes for international mail.
• New standards for domestic mail.
• Telemarketing.
• The EPA denied a petition remove stationary combustion turbines from its list of categories of major sources of hazardous air pollutants.
• Revised safety standards for bassinets and cradles.

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