Virginia’s reforms have been boring, methodical, and based on economic analysis rather than political noteworthiness.

James Broughel has a piece in Forbes about Governor Glenn Youngkin’s results in Virginia from regulatory reforms. Like similarly successful efforts in Iowa and Idaho, Virginia’s reforms have been boring, methodical, and based on economic analysis rather than political noteworthiness.

Since 2022, Virginia has reduced the number of requirements in its regulatory code by 26.8 percent, exceeding Youngkin’s goal of 25 percent. He says his administration is on pace to reach a 33 percent reduction by the end of his term early next year. The reduction in regulatory word count is even greater: 11.5 million words were struck, nearly half of the total found in state guidance documents.

Youngkin estimates this deregulation will save Virginians $1.2 billion per year. Deregulation in housing construction is estimated to reduce the cost of building a new house by $24,000 on average.

Broughel reports some of the other results:

Faster licensing at the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation has cut approval times from 33 days to just five, yielding $179 million annually in additional worker earnings. Updates to stormwater permitting processes have produced another $124 million in savings, while a new Virginia Marine Resources Commission’s general permit framework reduced costs by $47 million.

These reforms, which have been supported by an updated cost-benefit analysis framework, have reduced costs but also improved policy delivery. A new Virginia Permit Transparency (VPT) portal, launched in 2024, tracks over 100,000 permits issued annually, enabling agencies and the public to monitor applications. Since its implementation, the Department of Environmental Quality has slashed average processing times by 70 percent.

Perhaps most impressive: Youngkin has achieved these results with only four full-time employees in his Office of Regulatory Management.

P.S.: DOGE has yet to repeal a single federal regulation and has no target to do so.