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Growth of Government

The PDF document below shows the increase in or growth of governmental regulatory oversight in terms of the annual number of pages in the Federal Register; governmental regulatory administrative costs and; increased staffing to oversee the regulations. While the regulatory burden is substantial, the last two pages indicate that is also a positive result in terms of fewer accidents.

>> Growth of Government

Annual Pages Published in the Federal Register

The size of the Code of Federal Regulations – the official U.S. Government publication of final regulations which now occupies over twenty feet of shelf space (Code) – provides a sense of the magnitude of the stock of existing regulations with which U.S. businesses, workers, and consumers must comply.

The number of pages in the Federal Register provides a sense of the flow of new regulations issued during a given period and suggests how the regulatory burden will grow as Americans try to comply with the new mandates. In 2004, the federal government printed 78, 851 pages of rules and announcements. At four minutes per page, that would require 2.5 people reading eight hours per day for a year just to keep up with the new rules and pronouncements.

Source:

A Working Paper in Regulatory Studies, E-Rulemaking: A Case Example of eGov Transformation, by Susan E. Dudley and Richard D. Otis June 13, 2005, Mercatus Center, George Mason University Derived for the Budget of the United States Government, Federal Register , and related documents, various fiscal years.

Administrative Cost of Regulation

Social regulations include regulatory activities that address issues related to health, safety, and the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Transportation Safety Board are examples of agencies that administer social regulations.

Economic regulations tend to be industry-specific. The Securities and Exchange Commission, The Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are examples of agencies that fall into the economic regulation category.

The largest projected increase among the social regulation subcategories (both in dollar and percentage terms) is for homeland security; the President's 2006 budget requests a real 4.6 % increase in outlays for regulatory activities within the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security is budgeted to receive an additional $1.1 billion in regulatory funding over last year. DHS's budget for administering regulation is the largest of any agency at $18 billion.

Source:

Regulators' Budget Continues to Rise: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005. By Susan Dudley & Melinda Warren. Mercatus Center, Widenbaum Center. George Mason University, Washington University. Upward Trend in Regulation Continues: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2005 and 2006. Susan Dudley, Melinda Warren, Mercatus Center, Widenbaum Center, George Mason University, Washington University.

Staffing of Federal Regulatory Agencies

Staffing at federal regulatory agencies in 2006 is expected to reach an all-time high of 242,376, The number of federal employees responsible for regulating private sector activities is over four times what it was in 1960.

By all measures, Governmental regulation of public and private entities is significant and growing, and affects virtually all aspects of our lives.

Source:

Regulators' Budget Continues to Rise: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005. By Susan Dudley & Melinda Warren. Mercatus Center, Widenbaum Center, George Mason University, Washington University Upward Trend in Regulation Continues: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2005 and 2006. Susan Dudley, Melinda Warren, George Mason University, Washington University

Incidence rates for occupational injury and illness cases in private industry, 1973 - 2003

One factor contributing to the decline in overall injury and illness incidence rates is the shift in hours worked from a sector with a high rate of injuries (manufacturing) to other sectors with lower rates of injury.

Manufacturing hours decreased from 35% of all hours worked in 1973 to 17% of all hours worked in 1997.

In all years, the rates would be higher if the number of manufacturing hours worked was as high as in 1973. However, the decrease over time is still apparent, suggesting that the shift away from work in manufacturing does not account completely for the decrease in injury and illness incidence rates.

Source:

Incidence rates for occupational injury and illness cases in private industry, 1973-1997. (Cases without lost workdays and lost-workday cases are subsets of total cases.) (Source SOII [19099].) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Worker Health Chartbook, 2000, September 2000, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2000-127

Fatalities in Crashes Involving Large Trucks and Passenger Vehicles per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled, 1975 - 2003

A large truck is defined as a truck with a (GVWR) greater than 10,000 pounds. A passenger vehicle is defined as a car or light truck (including pickups, vans, and SUV's).

Over the past 20 years there has been a 44% increase in registered large trucks and an 86% increase in large truck miles traveled.

Over the same time period, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes each year has declined by 4%, and the vehicle involvement rate for large trucks in fatal crashes has declined by 51%.

Over the past 10 years there has been a 30% increase in registered large trucks and a 35% increase in miles traveled by large trucks.

The number of large trucks involved in injury crashes each year has decreased by 8% over the past 10 years, and the vehicle involvement rate for large trucks in injury crashes has declined by 32%. Alcohol Involvement (BAC of 0.01 g/dl or more) for large truck drivers in fatal crashes has declined by 77% since 1982, the first year of FARS data for alcohol involvement in fatal crashes.

Source:
U.S. Department of Transportation, FMCSA-RI-04-033, FMCSA Analysis Division/Large Truck Crash Facts 2003, Vehicle Miles of Travel: FHA. Fatal Crashes and Vehicles Involved: NHTSA, FARS

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