Major U.S. Regulatory Movements

Since October 6, 2016, the QuantGov team has been using the RegData US Regulation Tracker to summarize regulatory restrictions using text scraped from the ECFR and analyzed using natural language processing. Using this tool, the QuantGov team has been able to track abrupt changes to the number of regulatory restrictions in the CFR. When the team observes an abrupt change in the normal growth of regulatory restrictions, a deeper dive into the data is needed to identify the source of the change. This blog will explore some of the more interesting regulatory shifts observed over the last few years.

On October 11, 2018, the regulatory restriction count of the regulations under the purview of Department of the Treasury declined from 96,321 to 92,510. The rule responsible for the change was in response to the Office of Thrift Supervision being abolished 7 years prior, with its authority and rules being transferred to other agencies. While the regulations were no longer being enforced, it took the US Federal government almost a decade make the change in the text itself. Duplicative, orphaned regulations can cause people to comply to the wrong regulations; potentially adding compliance costs and/or reducing safety. This is one of many examples of where automatic sunsetting would help maintain regulatory hygiene.

About half a year later, on March 14th, 2019, the Department of the Treasury’s regulatory restriction count fell again from 93,114 to 90,464. The rule responsible for the change was aimed at removing outdated tax regulations that are “unnecessary, duplicative, or obsolete, and force taxpayers to navigate unnecessarily complex or confusing rules.”

Around the same time, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) also reduced their regulatory restriction count. On October 15, 2018, the USDA took action to make the approval process for importing fruits and vegetables into the United States and between states more flexible to meet the challenge posed by evolving pest situations. The intent of the rule is to make the regulations less specific to particular situations and more outcome oriented - a best practice for fostering innovation and cost effective compliance.

More recently, the EPA also made improvements to their regulations. For example, on January 1, 2021, the EPA consolidated their fuel standards for all gasoline, diesel, and other fuel quality programs as opposed to having specific and outdated provisions that had the same effect and removed duplicative registration requirements. Streamlining regulations can have a beneficial effect for the environment and business as it can reduce the complexity involved in compliance, reducing compliance costs, and compliance rates

Additionally, on July 29, 2021, the EPA took an action which resulted in a reduction of their regulatory restriction count by about 5,000 restrictions. They removed sections on heavy-duty engines for locomotives that are no longer in service, along with other improvements. Removing regulations for trains that no longer exist improves the readability of the CFR and thus makes it easier to comply with.

The RegData US Regulation Tracker is one of many tools built from the QuantGov platform. Other trackers, such as the Significant Rules Tracker and RegPulse, provide additional context to the ever changing landscape of US federal regulation. To create your own analysis, visit RegHub to download data series, raw documents, or both.