Regulators added $1.8 billion in cumulative burdens this week through 13 regulations with quantified costs. Annual benefits were $112 million and regulators published 3.6 million paperwork burden hours. The Department of Interior’s (DOI) proposal on drilling on the outer continental shelf led the week.

Regulatory Toplines

• New Proposed Rules: 48
• New Final Rules: 65
• 2015 Significant Documents: 107
• 2015 Total Pages of Regulation: 11,076
• 2015 Proposed Rules: $2.9 Billion
• 2015 Final Rules: $14.9 Billion

DOI’s drilling proposal focuses specifically on the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The agency estimates total costs could eclipse $1.3 billion, with between $124 million and $158 million in annualized burdens. DOI performed a break-even analysis, noting the costs of a catastrophic oil spill could range from $10 billion to $27 billion in the Beaufort or Chukchi seas.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) finalized a rule to extend employment authorization to dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants (“specialty occupation” immigrants). DHE estimates total costs of $257 million, with more than one million paperwork burden hours.   

Affordable Care Act

The administration finalized its benefit and payment parameters for reinsurance, risk corridors, and Federally-facilitated Exchanges in 2016. The rule adds $6.7 million in annual burdens and more than 27,000 paperwork burden hours. 

Since passage, based on total lifetime costs of the regulations, the Affordable Care Act has imposed a cost of $43.8 billion in state and private-sector burdens and 163.5 million annual paperwork hours.

Dodd-Frank

Click here to view the total estimated revised costs from Dodd-Frank; since passage, the legislation has produced more than 63.9 million paperwork burden hours and imposed $33 billion in direct compliance costs. Based on calculations from the Financial Services Roundtable, Dodd-Frank regulations would require 31,990 employees to file federal paperwork.

A Note on Paperwork

There were 448 notices published in the Federal Register this week. The Office of Management and Budget approved 45 paperwork requirements, decreasing the paperwork burden hours by 465,930 hours.  

There was one major change to existing paperwork requirements (defined as an hourly burden increase or decrease of 500,000 or greater). The largest increase in paperwork burden hours imposed by an information collection requirement (ICR) was 156,549 hours from the Food and Nutrition Service. The largest decrease in paperwork burden hours imposed by an ICR was 522,595 hours.

Total Burdens

Since January 1, the federal government has published $17.9 billion in compliance costs and has added five million paperwork burden hours. Click here for our comprehensive database of regulations and rulemakings promulgated in 2015.