This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

Subject: This Week in Ridiculous Regulations Fri Dec 20, 2019 2:07 am

Britain held a major election, and the U.S. House of Representatives is set to impeach President Trump. At the same time, Trump is poised for a victory on the USMCA trade agreement, which CEI came out against. Meanwhile, agencies published new regulations ranging from aerosol cans to Philly fireworks.
On to the data:

Last week, 64 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register, after 40 the previous week.
That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 38 minutes.
Federal agencies have issued 2,839 final regulations in 2019. At that pace, there will be 2,970 new final regulations. Last year’s total was 3,367 regulations.
Last week, agencies published 409 notices, for a total of 20,819 in 2019. At that pace, there will be 21,774 new notices this year. Last year’s total was 21,656.
Last week, 1,155 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 1,258 pages the previous week.
The 2019 Federal Register totals 68,324 pages. It is on pace for 71,456 pages. The 2018 total was 68,302 pages. The all-time record adjusted page count (which subtracts skips, jumps, and blank pages) is 96,994, set in 2016.
Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. Four such rules have been published this year. Five such rules were published in 2018.
The running cost tally for 2019’s economically significant regulations currently ranges from savings of $4.39 billion to $4.08 billion, mostly from estimated savings on federal spending. The 2018 total ranges from net costs of $220.1 million to $2.54 billion, depending on discount rates and other assumptions.
Agencies have published 65 final rules meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far this year. 2018’s total was 108 significant final rules.
So far in 2019, 481 new rules affect small businesses; 21 of them are classified as significant. 2018’s totals were 660 rules affecting small businesses, with 29 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new final regulations:

There is a new definition of “high volatility commercial real estate (HVCRE) exposure” for regulatory purposes. Which hopefully will not include bailouts.
Lane snappers.
How to report changes in your life insurance to the Internal Revenue Service.
A compliance guide for small businesses that contract with the Defense Department, General Services Administration, or NASA.
A new definition of “volatile organic compounds,” but only in Delaware.
The Federal Aviation Administration is extending its ban on flying over Somalia.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is revising its calculations for expected retirement ages for certain pension plans in distress.
Aerosol cans are now covered under the Environmental Protection Agency’s universal waste program regulations.
New Year’s Eve fireworks in Philadelphia.

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

https://cei.org/blog/week-ridiculous-regulations-103

idiots

This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

Via AnCaps: Law & Enforced Unnatural Order