Regulation Policy

What The Regulators Have In Store

Federal bureaucrats plan to issue thousands of new rules this year that will likely add billions to the regulatory costs already imposed on the economy. For business, the only good news is that the number of rules agencies are issuing is falling.

  • Even without the new rules, regulatory costs will grow to $700 billion this year from $688 billion last year, according to estimates by Rochester Institute of Technology economist Thomas D. Hopkins.

  • This year's record-high costs equal 9 percent of gross domestic product.

  • In October, federal agencies reported that they were working on 4,407 new rules -- down 273 from the year before.

  • That represents a welcome decline for business from the record-setting 5,119 rules in the pipeline as of October 1994.

Last October, agencies said they were working on 125 major rules -- meaning those that would cost $100 million or more a year. That was down from 139 the year before.

This year, regulators are concentrating on issues relating to toxic chemical use, energy efficiency, repetitive-motion injuries, workplace health and safety programs and the hours 14- and 15-year-olds may work.

Source: Laura M. Litvan, "Regulators Set to Get Busy," Investor's Business Daily, January 14, 1998.

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