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Unelected federal agencies personnel issue over 3,000 rules and regulations every year. That compares to a far lower number of laws passed by the elected Congress, whose recent 10-year average is 169 annually.
The Biden White House’s new Spring 2022 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions was released in late June (I profiled it here; a breakdown of its 3,803 rules here). As I often note, since 1981 the Agenda has surveyed a selection of the executive branch’s regulatory priorities.
As one of its first actions, the Biden administration repudiated the Trump-era one-in, two-out program and regulatory streamlining itself. The Office of Management and Budget’s one-time overseers have shifted gears on streamlining and now reinforce progressive activism with extension of health programs and the climate and “equity” agenda.
Biden’s Spring Agenda finds 67 departments, agencies and commissions presenting the aforementioned 3,803 rules in the pipeline at the “Active” (pre-rule, proposed, and final) “Completed,” and “Long-term” stages.
There are 1,191 among these deemed “significant.” A costlier subset of 294 of these are deemed as “economically significant,” meaning means they bear at least $100 million in annual effect, either adding costs or reducing them.
The 294 economically significant rules break out as 220 Active (15 of which appear in the Agenda for the first time), 36 recently Completed, and 38 Long term. The chart below breaks these economically significant down by the department or agency issuing them.
Trump’s counts were somewhat lower than this, yet inflated by the need to write a rule to eliminate a rule in pursuit of the one-in, two-out goal, as well as by the issuance of rules addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and the federal response to it, such as Small Business Administration rules implementing the Paycheck Protection Program.
Biden’s executive actions and public proclamations pursue regulatory activism, and regulatory components of the recent infrastructure package are now influencing what gets presented in the Agenda. Among much else are reinvigorated environmental regulations such as those covering the Waters of the United States rule, energy conservation, interventions purporting to address supply chain concerns, rural broadband grants, cigarette regulation, and impaired driver monitoring.
The full list of 294 economically significant rules and regulations in the new spring 2022 Unified Agenda appears below. This list provides details for the chart above, presenting rules by department or agency and by stage of completion.
Inventory of 294 “Economically Significant” Rules in the Spring 2022 Unified Agenda
Inventory of 294 Economically Significant Rules in the Pipeline
The “Regulation Identifier Number” or RIN appears at the end of each entry below.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
USDA/FSIS, Maximum Line Speed Under the New Poultry Inspection System, 0583-AD85
USDA/FNS, Modernizing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefit Redemption Systems, 0584-AE37
USDA/FNS, Simplifying Meal Service and Monitoring Requirements in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, 0584-AE67
USDA/FNS, Strengthening Integrity and Reducing Retailer Fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), 0584-AE71
DOE/OGC, Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage Contingent Cost Allocation, 1990-AA39
HHS/FDA, General and Plastic Surgery Devices: Restricted Sale, Distribution, and Use of Sunlamp Products, 0910-AH14
HHS/FDA, Medical Devices; Quality System Regulation Amendments, 0910-AH99
HHS/CMS, Administrative Simplification: Adoption of Standards for Health Care Attachment Transactions and Electronic Signatures, and Modification to Referral Certification and Authorization Standard (CMS-0053), 0938-AT38
HHS/CMS, Treatment of Medicare Part C Days in the Calculation of a Hospital’s Medicare Disproportionate Patient Percentage (CMS-1739), 0938-AU24
HHS/CMS, Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination (CMS-3415), 0938-AU75
DHS/USCIS, Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment of H-2B Nonimmigrants in the United States, 1615-AC06
DHS/USCBP, Importer Security Filing and Additional Carrier Requirements, 1651-AA70
DHS/USCBP, Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI)–Noncompliant Traveler Fee, 1651-AB06
DHS/USCBP, Collection of Biometric Data From Noncitizens Upon Entry To and Exit From the United States, 1651-AB12
DHS/FEMA, Cost of Assistance Estimates in the Disaster Declaration Process for the Public Assistance Program, 1660-AA99
HUD/CPD, Housing Trust Fund (FR-5246), 2506-AC30
DOJ/CRT, Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability: Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Governments, 1190-AA79
DOL/ETA, Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment of H-2B Nonimmigrants in the United States, 1205-AB76
DOL/OSHA, COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard Rulemaking, 1218-AD42
DOL/WHD, Modernizing the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act Regulations, 1235-AA38
DOT/FAA, Prohibit or Restrict the Operation of an Unmanned Aircraft in Close Proximity to a Fixed Site Facility, 2120-AL33
DOT/FMCSA, Heavy Vehicle Speed Limiters, 2126-AB63
DOT/NHTSA, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 150 – Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) Communication, 2127-AL55
DOT/NHTSA, Retroreflective Tape and Underride Guards for Single Unit Trucks, 2127-AL57
DOT/PHMSA, Pipeline Safety–Safety of Carbon Dioxide Pipelines, 2137-AF60
TREAS/IRS, Prescription Drug and Health Care Spending, 1545-BQ27
TREAS/CDFIF, Interim Rule for the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, 1559-AA01
VA, Reimbursement for Emergency Treatment, 2900-AQ08
EPA/OAR, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles-Phase 3, 2060-AV50
FCC, Expanding the Economic and Innovation Opportunities of Spectrum Through Incentive Auctions (GN Docket No. 12-268), 3060-AJ82
FCC, Processing Applications in the Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) Service; Feasibility of Reduced Orbital Spacing for Provision of DBS Service in the United States (IB Docket No. 06-160), 3060-AI86
FCC, Parts 2 and 25 to Enable GSO FSS in the 17.3-17.8 GHz Band, Modernize Rules for 17/24 GHz BSS Space Stations, and Establish Off-Axis Uplink Power Limits for Extended Ka-Band FSS (IB Doc. No. 20-330), 3060-AL28
FCC, Restoring Internet Freedom (WC Docket No. 17-108); Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet (GN Docket No. 14–28), 3060-AK21
FCC, Implementation of the National Suicide Improvement Act of 2018, 3060-AL01
FCC, Establishing a 5G Fund for Rural America; GN Docket No. 20-32, 3060-AL15
FHFA, Prior Approval of Enterprise Products, 2590-AA17
FHFA, Enterprise Liquidity Requirements, 2590-AB09
NRC, Revision of Fee Schedules: Fee Recovery for Fiscal Year 2024 [NRC-2022-0046], 3150-AK74
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