Do you have any idea when the last time a change of this nature (loosening of standards) was made?
“Do you have any idea when the last time a change of this nature (loosening of standards) was made?”
Not really. But they do make slight changes reasonably often.
If you are interested, you can see all of the changes to the AME guide since 2004 here: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/ame/guide/media/archives.pdf