The Week in Regulation: August 22-26, 2011

With Cass Sunstein’s (Obama’s regulatory czar) hollow regulatory reform push, new fracking rules, and a final union-friendly National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule, this was a busy week for federal regulators.

Administrative agencies proposed 60 rules and implemented 89 final rules.  Federal agencies issued 16 new documents “deemed significant under [Executive Order] 12866,” bringing the yearly total to 416 according to the Federal Register; the federal government has issued 53,630 pages of regulations in 2011.  

The same day Cass Sunstein issued final regulatory review plans, EPA proposed a fracking rule with cost projections upwards of $1.5 billion.  The proposal regulates volatile organic compounds and sulfur dioxide from natural gas plants and aims to reduce ground-level ozone.  In addition to the compliance costs, the rule could impose more than 600,000 annual paperwork burden hours.  The 106-page proposal arrives with a 60-day comment period.     

NLRB issued a statement on Thursday announcing that it finalized a rule requiring employers to post union-notification rights in the workplace.  NLRB wrote that the rule would be published in today’s Federal Register, but with 40 proposed and final rules on the docket, it appears next week is the target for the rule.  Here is one opinion of the regulation.

Dodd-Frank produced two final rules and one proposal this week.  SEC finalized a rule providing for “certain thresholds for suspension of the reporting obligations for asset-backed securities issuers.”  The rule imposes more than 82,000 paperwork hours and $11 million in compliance costs.

A proposed HHS rule highlighted another week of health care implementation.  The HHS proposal requires health plans to provide a “uniform glossary” for insurance.  This requires national standards for plan data and coverage. The proposal could cost $156 million and impose 3.1 million annual paperwork burden hours. 

The Affordable Care Act has imposed an estimated $8.2 billion in private-sector burdens, approximately $2.2 billion in direct costs to states, and 27 million annual paperwork hours.

At the current pace, the total regulatory burden for 2011 (proposed and final) will exceed $105.8 billion.  Since January 1, the federal government has imposed more than 65.1 million annual paperwork burden hours and $69.2 billion in compliance costs. 

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