This week regulators added $284 million in costs and 3.8 million paperwork burden hours.  The largest measure was a proposed rule from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) amending existing regulations on certificates of compliance.           

Regulatory Toplines

• New Proposed Rules: 68
• New Final Rules: 71
• 2013 Significant Documents: 163
• 2013 Total Pages of Regulation: 29,232
• 2013 Proposed Rules: $7.5 Billion
• 2013 Final Rules: $13 Billion

AAF has catalogued regulations according to their likely codification in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).  The CFR is organized by title, 1-50, with each title corresponding to an industry or part of government.  This tool will help to determine which sectors of the economy receive the highest number of regulatory actions.

Regulation by Industry in 2013

The CPSC’s proposed rule on certificates of compliance amends “requirements for the form, content, and availability” of certificates.  There are substantial costs and paperwork requirements due to the retention of records for an assortment of consumer product manufacturers, everything from bike helmets to lawn darts.  Combined, the proposed rule costs $207 million, with 3.1 million associated paperwork burden hours.  

Affordable Care Act

There was one ACA rulemaking this week, Medicaid Hospital Allotment Reduction, which actually reduces $548 million in Medicaid funding to states.  This reduction assumes fewer uninsured patients will seek Medicaid coverage.  The proposed rule imposes just 1,071 paperwork burden hours.

Since passage, based on total lifetime costs of the regulations, the Affordable Care Act has imposed an estimated $21.7 billion in private-sector burdens, approximately $9.8 billion in costs to the states, and 110.8 million annual paperwork hours.

Dodd-Frank

There were no Dodd-Frank rulemakings this week.  Click here to view the total estimated compliance costs from Dodd-Frank; since passage, the legislation has produced more than 59.1 million paperwork burden hours and imposed $15.1 billion in direct compliance costs.  Based on calculations from the Financial Services Roundtable, Dodd-Frank regulations would require 29,577 employees to file federal paperwork.

A Note on Notices

This week federal agencies published 498 notices.  In these notices, agencies typically request new or revised paperwork burdens from the Office of Management and Budget.  These notices are generally not final, merely requests with a comment period.

Agencies requested 53 million paperwork burden hours, the equivalent of forcing 26,850 employees into red tape compliance.  The associated costs of these burdens: $40.4 million, or $0.75 per hour. 

Total Burdens

Since January 1, the federal government has published $20.5 billion in compliance costs, and 70.7 million annual paperwork burden hours.  At the current pace, regulators will publish $54 billion in regulations this year.  Click here for our comprehensive database of regulations and rulemakings promulgated in 2013.

Aggregate regulatory costs were once again stagnant this week, although the administration did publish three Affordable Care Act (ACA) proposed rules.  Paperwork hours actually declined by 612,000 hours because of two proposals to end and consolidate collections.         

Regulatory Toplines

• New Proposed Rules: 69
• New Final Rules: 64
• 2013 Significant Documents: 156
• 2013 Total Pages of Regulation: 27,852
• 2013 Proposed Rules: $7.3 Billion
• 2013 Final Rules: $12.9 Billion

AAF has catalogued regulations according to their likely codification in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).  The CFR is organized by title, 1-50, with each title corresponding to an industry or part of government.  This tool will help to determine which sectors of the economy receive the highest number of regulatory actions.

Regulation by Industry in 2013

Outside of ACA actions, the EPA published a notice denying Earthjustice’s petition to regulate emissions from coal mines.  If parties contest the ruling, the D.C. Court of Appeals will likely decide the outcome.

The Department of Transportation published a proposal to cut more than 400,000 paperwork burden hours.  Its “Medical Examiner’s Certification Integration” proposed rule regulates the physical examination of drivers of commercial motor vehicles.  There are some new costs, but on net, the regulation could drastically reduce the current collection of information.

Affordable Care Act

There were three ACA rulemakings this week, and they could reduce more than 200,000 hours of paperwork.  One notable proposal, “Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System,” consumes 339 pages in the Federal Register, but it does help to cut hospital paperwork by reducing the number of patient charts per quarter.  Because this rulemaking is associated with the ACA, it also results in a slight decline for the law’s aggregate paperwork burden.

Since passage, based on total lifetime costs of the regulations, the Affordable Care Act has imposed an estimated $21.7 billion in private-sector burdens, approximately $9.8 billion in costs to the states, and 110.8 million annual paperwork hours.

Dodd-Frank

There were no Dodd-Frank rulemakings this week.  Click here to view the total estimated compliance costs from Dodd-Frank; since passage, the legislation has produced more than 59.1 million paperwork burden hours and imposed $15.1 billion in direct compliance costs.  Based on calculations from the Financial Services Roundtable, Dodd-Frank regulations would require 29,577 employees to file federal paperwork.

A Note on Notices

This week federal agencies published 478 notices.  In these notices, agencies typically request new or revised paperwork burdens from the Office of Management and Budget.  These notices are generally not final, merely requests with a comment period.

Agencies requested 80 million paperwork burden hours, the equivalent of forcing 39,397 employees into red tape compliance.  The associated costs of these burdens: $75.2 million, or $0.94 per hour. 

Total Burdens

Since January 1, the federal government has published $20.2 billion in compliance costs, and 66.8 million annual paperwork burden hours.  At the current pace, regulators will publish $56 billion in regulations this year.  Click here for our comprehensive database of regulations and rulemakings promulgated in 2013.