Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks at 84 Lumber in Richmond on Tuesday, where he announced that Virginia had surpassed his administration’s goal of reducing regulatory requirements by 25% across state government. (Photo by Markus Schmidt/Virginia Mercury)
Sweat beaded on foreheads inside the sweltering warehouse of 84 Lumber on Richmond’s Southside Tuesday, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin appeared unfazed by the heat as he declared victory on one of his administration’s signature promises — slashing red tape across Virginia’s government by 25%.
“The heart of the day is recognizing that when we reduce the burdens of excess regulations on businesses in Virginia, businesses come, businesses thrive, businesses grow,” Youngkin said to applause. “Today is about results. Today is about commitments kept. Today is about promises made — and a team of extraordinary individuals working together to keep those promises.”
Youngkin announced that Virginia has surpassed his administration’s goal of cutting regulatory requirements by 25%, six months ahead of schedule.
The benchmark, established in Executive Order 19 during his first year in office, set in motion a sweeping review of every agency’s rules, guidance documents, and permitting practices — an effort that culminated in the streamlining or repeal of nearly 89,000 regulatory requirements and the elimination of 11.5 million words from official documents, according to state officials.
“The 25% was broken through, and I’m convinced we can get to 35,” Youngkin said. “It’s about setting targets and hitting them — and then blowing through them and doing even more.”
From paperwork to paychecks
The governor connected the regulatory rollback to broader economic wins during his term, including more than $120 billion in corporate investment commitments, 270,000 new jobs, and 15,000 high-growth startups.
“Jobs that are open and ready,” Youngkin said. “And we have had 15,000 high-growth startups over the course of the last three years, and our goal is to get it to 20,000.”
While the administration emphasized the savings — pegged at $1.2 billion annually by the Office of Regulatory Management — Youngkin also said the effort was as much about speed and accessibility as cost.
“Regulatory and permitting timelines (have been) cut 65% in our Department of Environmental Quality,” he noted. “VDOT alone has eliminated 20,000 regulatory requirements, hundreds of pages of incorporated documents. That saves Virginians time — and time matters.”
Housing, licensing, and stormwater
Youngkin pointed to housing as one of the clearest examples of regulatory reform making a difference.
“We went to look at the whole building code,” he said, “and said, ‘Let’s reduce (regulations), maintain safety, but let’s reduce them.’ What we found is $24,000 of cost savings to building a home — that reduces the cost of the home by nearly 6%. That means someone has to pay less to get into the home of their dreams.”
Hans Klinger, a real estate executive and president of the Home Builders Association of Virginia, said the impact has been felt throughout the industry.
“Regulation affects every part of (the homebuilding) process — what gets built, how long it takes, and what it costs,” Klinger said. “When the system becomes too complex or outdated, the burden extends beyond our builders. It pushes families out of homeownership, drives up rents and holds communities back.”
Klinger credited Brian Horn, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development, with leading a streamlining of more than 48,000 housing-related regulations.
“Several individual items could have easily added $25,000 to $35,000 to the cost of a single home,” Klinger said. “That directly goes down to the homebuyer — it’s a pass-through cost.”
The Uniform Statewide Building Code is currently under formal review by the Department of Housing and Community Development. As part of that process, the state is accepting public comments on proposed changes through December. Virginians can weigh in by visiting the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall website.
Environmental regulations were also a major focus. Andrew Wheeler, the former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief under President Donald Trump who helped launch Virginia’s Office of Regulatory Management, described the previous system as lacking accountability.
“We quickly discovered that over 50% of the regulations in Virginia were drafted by agencies and were not reviewed by anybody outside of the agency writing the regulation,” Wheeler said. “That’s just not good government.”
He offered stormwater regulations as a case study: “We had a stack of 23 inches of stormwater regulations and guidance documents, and we whittled that down to five inches.”
Wheeler did not elaborate further on which regulations were cut.
A “common sense” filter
Throughout his remarks, Youngkin emphasized that the process wasn’t about gutting public protections, but about eliminating redundancy and inefficiency.
“Why in the world do we have three competing (regulations)?” he asked. “Why do we demand the maximum level of insulation on everything we do that drives up housing costs?”
The process, he said, involved a practical “common sense score” alongside economic reviews. Some regulations stayed — especially those tied to health and safety — while others were restructured or repealed. “We’re not saying all regs are bad,” Youngkin said. “What we’re saying is excess regulation is bad.”
Agencies were tracked using a color-coded dashboard — green for those ahead of schedule, yellow for those close behind and red for those lagging. “It allows us to focus management attention on who we need to put a little pressure on to get going,” Youngkin said.
The results varied by agency. Some exceeded the 25% benchmark, while others are still working toward it. But overall, the state’s regulatory code has been pared down by one-quarter — a milestone Youngkin says proves that “we can deliver results.”
Despite repeated references to the $1.2 billion in annual savings and 89,000 streamlined regulations, neither Youngkin nor administration officials on Tuesday provided a detailed breakdown of how those figures were calculated. The administration also did not release a full cost analysis or explain the specific methodology used to tally reductions across agencies.
Legislative roots and next steps
Del. Michael Webert, R-Fauquier, said the success of Youngkin’s effort builds on work that began under previous legislatures.
“In 2018 under Speaker Kirk Cox, we passed House Bill 883 — a pilot program dealing with occupational licenses and the Department of Criminal Justice,” said Webert, who sponsored the proposal. “Even with COVID and the delays, they still hit 25%. That goes to show you how overburdensome government can be.”
Youngkin’s reforms were institutionalized early in his term through the creation of the Office of Regulatory Management, which now oversees the review process, cost-benefit analysis and agency transparency.
Under the administration, all agencies are required to annually publish a Unified Regulatory Plan, publicly outlining new or amended rules for the coming year. Guidance documents, permits, and actions are tracked on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall website.
Wheeler said one of the biggest reforms was requiring economic analysis of not just new regulations, but also legacy rules.
“We built off of the pilot program that was created for two agencies, requiring a 25% reduction across all agencies by the end of this year,” he said. “It’s only July — we’re not at the end of the year — and we’ve already met the 25% reduction.”
Youngkin, whose name continues to swirl in speculation about his political future beyond the Virginia governor’s mansion, was eager to link the policy win to broader economic momentum in Virginia.
“At the heart of our commonwealth today, businesses are thriving,” Youngkin said. “We broke through $120 billion of commitments from companies to invest in Virginia … and we’ve got roughly 200,000 jobs in Virginia that are ready for someone to say ‘Yes, thank you. I will come work for you.’”
Reflecting on the original pledge, Youngkin acknowledged he wasn’t sure exactly how his administration would meet the 25% reduction goal — but credits a coordinated effort across state government for delivering results ahead of schedule.
“I didn’t know how we were going to do it,” he said. “But I knew we could. Now, we’re going for 35%.”
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Author: Markus Schmidt
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