Regulation Rodeo: Frequently Asked Questions
The American Action Forum’s Regulation Rodeo database houses information on federal regulations going back to 2005. Launched in 2015, RegRodeo tracks every proposed and final rule published in the Federal Register that includes a quantified economic impact or paperwork burden estimate.
Below are answers to some frequent questions AAF receives about what is tracked in RegRodeo.
Where do the economic impact values for each rule come from?
The cost/savings value for each rule tracked in RegRodeo predominantly comes from the Federal Register notice for the rule. Typically, if a rule has costs or savings the agency publishing the rule will discuss those impacts somewhere in the notice. If costs are presented at multiple discount rates (3 percent or 7 percent), AAF uses the total value at 7 percent in virtually all cases.
Beginning in March 2024, as part of the Biden Administration’s changes to the Circular on executive agency regulatory analysis, the standard discount rate became 2 percent. In light of this, cost estimates included in RegRodeo from that point forward will reflect the 2 percent discount rate estimate when available. For rules where that estimate is not included, AAF will continue to use the 7 percent discount rate estimate.
In some instances, agencies will reference economic impact estimates contained in a regulatory impact analysis or similar document in the rule’s docket rather than the Federal Register notice. In those cases, AAF refers to those documents to find the value.
Of note, AAF does not calculate costs for RegRodeo. All values are estimates from the agency that published the rule.
Where do the paperwork burden values for each rule come from?
The paperwork burdens are found in each rule’s required Paperwork Reduction Act section of the Federal Register notice, though in rare instances a notice will refer readers to the Office of Management and Budget’s Information Collection Review website. Like with economic impacts, all RegRodeo values are taken from the agency estimate.Does RegRodeo track agency spending?
No. All estimates pertain to regulatory costs/savings for either private entities or state and local governments due to federal regulatory actions. Occasionally agencies will provide estimates of federal fiscal implications (e.g., changes in users fees, transfer payments, etc.) in their rulemakings, but AAF does not include these in RegRodeo.
What exactly does “total cost” mean?
Total costs (or savings) are the economic impacts of the rule that the agency foresees over a certain window of time, such as 10 years. They are not the impacts incurred each year the rule is in effect.
Does RegRodeo include rules from independent agencies?
Yes. Even though independent agencies are not required to estimate economic impact, unless mandated by statute, if an independent agency includes an estimate along with a proposed or final rule it is captured in the database.
Does RegRodeo include every rule published in the Federal Register?
It does not. RegRodeo only tracks rules that have quantified estimates of either net costs or savings or paperwork burden changes in either the Federal Register notice for the rule, or the regulatory impact analysis typically found in the docket for the rule.
What percentage of final rules published each year end up in RegRodeo?
While it fluctuates, on average 10.1 percent of all final rules published in the Federal Register include estimates of economic impact or paperwork. The low over the timeframe captured in RegRodeo is 8.4 percent in 2017, and the high is 13.3 percent in 2020, as shown in the chart below.
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