This week in ridiculous regulations: Mergers and mail

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The 2024 Federal Register topped 90,000 pages and is now the second-longest ever, dating back to 1936, with more than a month still to go. President-elect Donald Trump made several Cabinet nominations, including the scandal-plagued Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, the pro-Russia Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for HHS Secretary. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from subscriptions to hearing aids.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 41 final regulations last week, after 44 the previous week.
• That's the equivalent of a new regulation every four hours and 6 minutes.
• With 2,735 final regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 3,094 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 19 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 37 the previous week.
• With 1,542 proposed regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 1,744 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 588 notices last week, after 438 notices the previous week.
• With 21,749 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 24,603 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,902 notices in 2023, 22,505 in 2022, and 20,492 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,673 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,407 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2024 contains 410 pages.
• With 90,545 pages so far, the 2024 Federal Register is on pace for 102,426 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 17 such rules so far in 2024, with none in the last week.
• This is on pace for 19 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 $16.82 billion to net savings of $26.38 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 $19.92 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 three the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 281 new regulations meeting the broader definition of "significant." This is on pace for 318 significant regulations in 2024.
• For comparison, there were 290 such regulations in 2023, 255 in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2024, 665 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 752. Sixty-one of them are significant, on pace for 69.
• 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:

• New FTC rules for mergers.
• The FTC's subscription canceling rule.
• Student loan repayments.
• Farm subsidies.
• Russia sanctions.
• Belarus sanctions.
• Burma sanctions.
• Solid waste incinerators.
• Bond policies for appealing EPA fines.
• Legal services for homeless veterans.
• Energy acquisitions.
• Hearing aid compatibility.
• Homelessness on federal land.
• CFPB regulations for businesses hiring workers.
• Federal Reserve Bank capital stock.
• Suicide hotlines.
• Medicare payments for renal disease.
• Dust-lead standards.
• Drone imports from certain countries.
• Rural housing subsidies.

And from last week's proposed regulations:

• Telehealth grants for veterans.
• A rating system for veterans' neurological disabilities.
• An FCC correction to a regulation for petitions for reconsideration of action in rulemaking.
• Market-dominant mail products.

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