This week in ridiculous regulations: marijuana scheduling and do not call fees

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Rather than allow more housing to be built to combat rising rents, the Justice Department sued RealPage, a rent-listing service. CEI's James Broughel released a paper on improving permitting policies in New York State. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from an under-21 cigarette ban to Texas onion taxes.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 68 final regulations last week, after 67 the previous week.
• That's the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 28 minutes.
• With 2,105 final regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 3,114 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 30 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 36 the previous week.
• With 1,208 proposed regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 1,787 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 488 notices last week, after 443 notices the previous week.
• With 15,862 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 23,464 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,902 notices in 2023, 22,505 in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 2,105 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,330 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2024 contains 421 pages.
• With 71,151 pages so far, the 2024 Federal Register is on pace for 105,253 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 14 such rules so far in 2024, with one in the last week.
• This is on pace for 21 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 $17.58 billion to net savings of $22.18 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 six the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 238 new regulations meeting the broader definition of "significant." This is on pace for 352 significant regulations in 2024.
• For comparison, there were 290 such regulations in 2023, 255 in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2024, 507 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 750. Fifty-two of them are significant, on pace for 77.
• 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:

• Federal ban on tobacco sales to people under 21. The FDA dodged cost-benefit analysis for this regulation, saying that "As FDA 'clearly has essentially no regulatory discretion' over any of the provisions of this rule, we do not assess costs, benefits, or transfers for this final rule."
• Anti-money laundering regulations for real estate transfers.
• Belarus sanctions.
• The Industry and Security Bureau revised its Entity List.
• Foreign languages fellowships.
• New mammography standards.
• A safety zone in Shady Side, Maryland.
• Migratory bird hunting.
• Rates for prison phone calls.
• How to appear at Social Security Administration hearings.
• Fireworks displays in the Puget Sound.
• Diplomatic agent-level immunity.
• Updates to Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals.
• Lactic acid tolerance.
• Do-Not-Call Registry fees.
• Voluntary malfunction reporting for medical devices.
• Space station spectrum.
• Penalties for NASA, GSA, and defense contractors.
• FCC regulations for domestic and sexual abuse survivors.
• Introducing the San Luis Rey viticultural area.
• A Catastrophic Health Emergency Fund administered by the Indian Health Service.
• Migratory game birds.
• Inflation-adjusted Outer Continental Shelf activity fees.

And from last week's proposed regulations:

• Marijuana rescheduling.
• The comment period on a rule for competition in livestock and poultry markets is extended through September 11, 2024.
• Modified rules for pesticide residues on various commodities.
• AmeriCorps updates.
• More draft regulatory guides for nuclear power plants.
• Great Lakes pilotage.
• Energy conservation standards for commercial refrigerators, freezers, and refrigerator-freezers.
• The EPA is streamlining its fuel quality regulations.
• Introducing the Rancho Guejito viticultural area.
• Floating cabins.
• Enterprise Housing Goals.
• No more reverse auctions for certain government construction projects.
• Schemp-Hirth Flugzeugbau gliders.
• Preventing workplace heat-related illness and injury.

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