This week in ridiculous regulations: Refrigeration products and off-road vehicle debris

Iran fired 180 missiles at Israel. Hurricane Helene devastated North Carolina. Longshoremen went on strike. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent. The 2024 Federal Register passed 80,000 pages and remains on record pace. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from plant imports to battery-powered toys.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 75 final regulations last week, after 68 the previous week.
• That's the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 14 minutes.
• With 2,422 final regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 3,137 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 45 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 38 the previous week.
• With 1,386 proposed regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 1,795 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 643 notices last week, after 477 notices the previous week.
• With 18,669 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 24,183 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,902 notices in 2023, 22,505 in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,622 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,921 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2024 contains 420 pages.
• With 80,991 pages so far, the 2024 Federal Register is on pace for 104,911 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 15 such rules so far in 2024, with one 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 $16.76 billion to net savings of $23.49 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 eight new final regulations meeting the broader definition of "significant" last week, after five the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 257 new regulations meeting the broader definition of "significant." This is on pace for 333 significant regulations in 2024.
• For comparison, there were 290 such regulations in 2023, 255 in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2024, 586 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 750. Fifty-seven of them are significant, on pace for 73.
• 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:

• Energy conservation standards for air-cooled commercial package air conditioners and heat pumps.
• Energy conservation standards for miscellaneous refrigeration products.
• Nuclear proceedings.
• Collecting medical debt.
• Russia sanctions.
• More Russia sanctions.
• Still more Russia sanctions.
• Copyright claims.
• Fine particulate matter standards in California.
• Court-mandated changes to Medicare payments.
• Don't fly over Tehran.
• Credit extensions from the Federal Reserve under Regulation A.
• Bank overdrafts.
• SixnewrulesforMedicarepayments.
• Make it seven.
• How to log flight time.
• HHS accounting rules.
• Railroad accident investigations.
• Marine mammal deaths from wind energy projects.
• Small business subsidies.
• Non-expiring flight instructor certificates.
• Web link requirements for plant imports.
• Flugzeugbau.
• Combustible gases from plutonium processing.
• Bank hiring practices.

And from last week's proposed regulations:

• Market dominant postal products.
• Toys with batteries.
• Remittances.
• Debris penetration for off-road vehicles.
• Generic environmental impact statement for new nuclear reactor licenses.
• Housing loan subsidies.
• Charges for federal inmates' phone calls.
• Family seating on airplanes. Unintended consequence: higher airfare prices.
• Recordkeeping requirements for custodial accounts.
• Modernized wine permits.
• Reopened comment period for updated infant rocker safety standards.

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

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