The Week in Regulation: August 1-5, 2011

4.3 million paperwork hours.  That’s the new burden from this week’s heavy load of federal regulations.  The price tag for this burden: $1.08 billion.

This week administrative agencies proposed 59 rules and implemented 62 final rules.  There are 12 “significant” new documents, bringing the yearly total to 376 according to the Federal Register; the federal government has issued 47,984 pages of regulations in 2011, including more than 2,300 this week.  

The Department of Homeland Security published the priciest regulation of the week.  The proposed rule implements the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program and regulates the sale and transfer of the potentially explosive chemical.  Homeland Security listed a total price of roughly $750 million, with more than 3.7 million total paperwork burden hours.   

Dodd-Frank has once again flooded the Federal Register, with four new rules from three different agencies. 

First, SEC proposed registrant and transaction requirements for asset-backed securities, at a cost of $7.7 million. 

Second, FDIC finalized a rule that transfers certain Office of Thrift Supervision duties to FDIC. 

Third, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposed a rule (imposing 7,504 paperwork hours) regulating transactions between a customer and a “futures commission merchant.” 

Fourth, a new CFTC rulemaking would govern risk management among swap dealers, market participants, and futures merchants.  The total cost would eclipse $22 million, with more than 227,000 annual paperwork burden hours.

A new feature of the "Week in Regulation" highlights ongoing implementation of ObamaCare, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).  Since passage, PPACA has imposed more than $8.2 billion private-sector burdens, approximately $2.1 billion in direct costs to states, and 12.9 million annual paperwork hours.

Finally, at the current pace the total regulatory burden for the year will exceed $104 billion, with approximately 900 major regulations.  Since January 1, the federal government has piled on more than 45.9 million annual paperwork burden hours and $62 billion in compliance costs. 

Click here for our comprehensive database of regulations promulgated in 2011.