This week in ridiculous regulations: energy labeling and FCC rules for homework

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There are now more than 2,000 new final regulations on the year. The Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago. A labor market statistic caused a big uproar. A court struck down the FTC's non-compete rule. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from pedestrian accessibility to Texas onion taxes.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 67 final regulations last week, after 72 the previous week.
• That's the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 30 minutes.
• With 2,037 final regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 3,105 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 53 the previous week.
• With 1,178 proposed regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 1,796 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 443 notices last week, after 535 notices the previous week.
• With 15,374 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 23,436 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,902 notices in 2023, 22,505 in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,330 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,469 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2024 contains 417 pages.
• With 68,319 pages so far, the 2024 Federal Register is on pace for 104,145 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 13 such rules so far in 2024, with none in the last week.
• This is on pace for 20 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 $17.82 billion to net savings of $22.87 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 six new final regulations meeting the broader definition of "significant" last week, after three the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 232 new regulations meeting the broader definition of "significant." This is on pace for 354 significant regulations in 2024.
• For comparison, there were 290 such regulations in 2023, 255 in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2024, 490 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 747. Fifty-one of them are significant, on pace for 78.
• 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:

• More environmental reviews for nuclear power plants.
• Venezuela sanctions.
• Burma sanctions.
• Prevailing wages in the Denver area.
• Tax increase on South Texas-grown onions.
• 911 reliability.
• Competitive postal products.
• Arms trafficking among the US, UK, and Australia.
• Fermented ammoniated condensed whey in animal feed.
• Russia sanctions.
• Visa ineligibility.
• New FTC regulations for product reviews.
• Occupant crash protection.
• The Coast Guard published a safety zone rule for the Chicago River related to the Democratic National Convention-a day after the convention ended.
• "No Smoking" signs on aircraft are now required to be always on.

And from last week's proposed regulations:

• Closed captioning in videos.
• Brokered deposits restrictions.
• Rules of practice before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Pedestrian accessibility standards.
• Joint standards for financial data transparency.
• Comment request for updated infant safety standards.
• Prevailing wages in Saratoga County, New York.
• FAA information security.
• Public hearings on whether to add ten clam species to the Endangered Species List.
• An FCC petition of reconsideration of action in a rulemaking proceeding.
• FCC regulations for homework.
• An FTC energy labeling rule.

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