This week in ridiculous regulations: Closed captioning and toothless blindcats

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The new 2024 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments is out now. The Paris Olympics began. Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro stole another election. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from longfin smelt to imported cats.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 57 final regulations last week, after 62 the previous week.
• That's the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 57 minutes.
• With 1,834 final regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 3,077 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 46 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 33 the previous week.
• With 1,049 proposed regulations so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 1,760 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 468 notices last week, after 410 notices the previous week.
• With 13,876 notices so far in 2024, agencies are on pace to issue 23,282 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 22,902 notices in 2023, 22,505 in 2022, and 20,018 in 2021.
• Last week, 1,387 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,831 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2024 contains 425 pages.
• With 63,279 pages so far, the 2024 Federal Register is on pace for 106,173 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 22 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 four new final regulations meeting the broader definition of "significant" last week, after three the previous week.
• So far this year, there are 216 new regulations meeting the broader definition of "significant." This is on pace for 362 significant regulations in 2024.
• For comparison, there were 290 such regulations in 2023, 255 in 2022, and 387 in 2021.
• So far in 2024, 445 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 747. Forty-six 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:

• Harpoon fishing.
• Changes to the South Texas Onion Committee.
• Medical waste incinerators.
• HUD rules for dealing with mortgage defaulters.
• No more self-certification for service-disabled veteran-owned small business subsidies.
• An Education Department program for transitioning gang-involved youth to higher education.
• The Transportation Department is withdrawing its recent rule on drug and alcohol testing for transportation workers.
• A suicide prevention grant program for veterans.
• An NLRB rule for proving majority support in construction industry collective-bargaining relationships.
• The EPA issued a correction for oil and gas emissions guidelines.
• Sea Otter Point safety zone.
• IRS substitute mortality tables.
• Quarantining imported cats and dogs.
• Endangered species status for a San Francisco-area population segment of longfin smelt.
• Cybersecurity labeling for the Internet of Things.
• CAFE standards correction.

And from last week's proposed regulations:

• Fishing limits for American Samoa.
• Closed captioning regulations.
• Sport fishing.
• Political Party Rules from the FEC.
• Political Party Rules II.
• Expanded FEC administrative fines.
• Six-month extension for determining endangered species status for the toothless blindcat and the widemouth blindcat.
• The Federal Reserve, FDIC, and the Comptroller of the Currency are reviewing their paperwork requirements under the Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996.
• Heavy weather risk management rules for Los Angeles.
• Removing the northeastern bulrush from the Endangered Species List.
• Environmental standards for surface coatings of miscellaneous metal parts.

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