Lawmaking

Lawmaking is a data page on the Domestic Intelligence desk of Glassbox Auditing. How many executive orders and memoranda the president signs, how many laws Congress enacts against the bills it considers, and how much state legislatures and big-city councils pass, each against its own past. New rules change costs and openings for the businesses under them, so a burst of lawmaking is a burst of change.

Last updated: 7 Nov 2026.

What is the latest reading?

Executive orders signed per year: 239 orders as of 2025, +291.8% since 1969. Source: National Archives: executive order disposition tables, Federal Register API (presidential documents).

What is on this page today?

Memoranda this year: 9, against 38 by this date last year — Signed and published through 7 Nov (Federal Register, 6 Nov 2026)
Executive orders this year: 68, against 226 by this date last year — Signed and published through 7 Nov (Federal Register, 6 Nov 2026)
Proclamations this year: 81, against 112 by this date last year — Signed and published through 7 Nov (Federal Register, 6 Nov 2026)
The 119th Congress has enacted 138 public laws so far — The 118th enacted 274 in its two years; bills introduced so far: 19,841 (Congress.gov, 7 Nov 2026)
239 executive orders signed in 2025, against 18 in 2024 — Averaged 66 a year over the last ten full years. Also signed: 39 memoranda, 123 proclamations. President in 2025: Trump. The year a president takes office counts both presidents' orders. (National Archives and Federal Register, 30 Dec 2025)
3 city councils passed 3,712 matters in 2025, +13% on 2024 — Everything a council passes (ordinances, resolutions, appointments), counted the same way every year from each city's own records; most: Denver 1,751, Boston 1,207, Seattle 754. (City council records (Legistar), 30 Dec 2025)
New York enacted 2,650 bills in 2025, +82% on its own earlier average, the most above it of 50 states — Furthest below their own average: Pennsylvania (-62%), Michigan (-47%), North Carolina (-45%). Many legislatures meet in two-year sessions and pass most laws in one of the years. (State legislatures (LegiScan), 30 Dec 2025)

Where does the data come from?

Items on this page come from Federal Register; Congress.gov; National Archives and Federal Register; City council records (Legistar); State legislatures (LegiScan). Each item links to its own source. All sources, how items are checked.

What does this page lead to?

Regulatory Exposure (Companies): Executive orders and new federal rules on AI, published in the Federal Register, add to the obligations each company carries on Regulatory Exposure. (moves the same way; months; company scale) Source: Federal Register API.
Tariffs & Government (Macro): Recent tariffs were set by executive order and proclamation (Sections 232 and 301, emergency powers), so the executive-action count includes the trade actions behind the tariff take. (either way, depending on the cause; weeks; economy scale) Source: National Archives, executive orders disposition tables.
AI Law & Enforcement (AI): State legislatures pass most U.S. AI rules (Colorado, California, Texas), so the states' bill counts include the laws AI Law & Enforcement matches to companies. (moves the same way; months; sector scale) Source: LegiScan (state legislatures' bills and their status).
Federal Reports (Calendar): When Congress fails to pass funding, a shutdown halts federal statistics; the October-November 2025 shutdown delayed the jobs and inflation reports on the Federal Reports calendar. (either way, depending on the cause; days; economy scale) Source: Congress.gov API (bills, actions, committee meetings).
Household Finances (Macro): State minimum-wage laws are among the bills states enact; about 30 states and DC set pay floors above the federal $7.25, raising incomes at the bottom of the scale. (either way, depending on the cause; months; economy scale) Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: state and federal minimum wages (via FRED STTMINWG<state>, FEDMINNFRWG).

What feeds this page?

AI Law & Enforcement (AI): States pass most U.S. AI rules (Colorado's AI Act, California's frontier-model transparency law), and those bills move through the state record on the Lawmaking page first. (moves the same way; months; economy scale) Source: LegiScan (state legislatures' bills and their status).
Upcoming (Calendar): Bill votes and rule effective dates are when regulated companies' obligations change; the bills and rules behind them are followed on Lawmaking. (either way, depending on the cause; on each date; sector scale) Source: Federal Register API.
Courts & Lawsuits (Companies): Waves of litigation over the same practice (privacy, opioids, product safety) often draw bills and rules aimed at it, which then apply to every company in the industry. (moves the same way; years; economy scale) Source: Congress.gov API (bills, actions, committee meetings).
Company History (Companies): Federal Register rules and notices that name a company (approvals, consent orders, exemptions) sit on its timeline and in the federal rulemaking record. (moves the same way; years; company scale) Source: Federal Register API.
Activism & Safety (Domestic Intelligence): Sustained protest on an issue tends to be followed by bills on it in cities, states and Congress; research finds protest raises lawmakers' attention to the issues raised. (moves the same way; months; economy scale) Source: Crowd Counting Consortium (Harvard Ash Center / UConn), CC0 1.0.
Social Media (Feed): Executive orders are often previewed in officials' posts before they are signed and published; Lawmaking lists each order with its signing date. (moves the same way; days to weeks; economy scale) Source: National Archives, executive orders disposition tables.
Events & Interviews (Feed): Executives' testimony at congressional hearings often comes before bills on their industry; Lawmaking tracks those bills' progress. (either way, depending on the cause; months; economy scale) Source: Congress.gov API (bills, actions, committee meetings).
Polymarket (Markets): Odds on control of Congress price which party will write tax, spending and regulation bills; Lawmaking tracks those bills once they are filed. (either way, depending on the cause; months; economy scale) Source: Polymarket US (public market data).
Interest Groups (People & Money): Lobbying reports name the bills and issues each group works on every quarter, so a group's rising lobbying spend points to the bills it is pressing among those counted on Lawmaking. (either way, depending on the cause; quarterly; economy scale) Source: lda.gov Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.
Stays (Travel): Fast growth in short-term rentals has led states and cities to pass registration or limit laws, such as Hawaii's 2024 law letting counties phase out vacation rentals. (moves the same way; years; sector scale) Source: LegiScan (state legislatures' bills and their status).
Leaders & Policy (World Powers): A U.S. president's executive orders, recorded by the National Archives, are the fastest route from a leader's policy to rules businesses must follow. (moves the same way; weeks; economy scale) Source: National Archives, executive orders disposition tables.