Youngkin turns to AI to cut more red tape across Virginia Government

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (left) joins state officials and business leaders at an event Tuesday celebrating Virginia surpassing his administration’s 25% regulatory reduction goal, six months ahead of schedule. (Photo by Markus Schmidt/Virginia Mercury)

Days after declaring victory in his administration’s push to cut regulatory red tape by 25%, Gov. Glenn Youngkin is now looking to artificial intelligence to help push that number even higher.

In an executive order issued Friday, Youngkin announced Virginia will launch the nation’s first “agentic AI” pilot program designed to streamline state regulations and guidance documents. The initiative will scan thousands of pages of agency rules using generative AI to identify redundancies, contradictions and overly complex language — all in the name of efficiency.

“We have made tremendous strides towards streamlining regulations and the regulatory process in the commonwealth,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Using emergent artificial intelligence tools, we will push this effort further in order to continue our mission of unleashing Virginia’s economy in a way that benefits all of its citizens.”

The move builds on the administration’s broader deregulation campaign, which this week marked a milestone by surpassing a 25% reduction in regulatory requirements across state government six months ahead of schedule. It’s unclear exactly which regulations have been shaved off, and Youngkin’s press officer hasn’t responded to questions about the methodology powering the process.

“The 25% was broken through, and I’m convinced we can get to 35,” Youngkin said Tuesday at an event in Richmond. “It’s about setting targets and hitting them — and then blowing through them and doing even more.”

The new AI pilot, officials say, is a first-of-its-kind effort at the state level. The technology will comb through existing regulations and guidance documents to flag conflicting language, suggest clearer phrasing, and help agencies that haven’t already met or exceeded the 25% reduction benchmark hit the mark. The administration says the tool will also empower agencies to conduct future reviews with greater ease.

“The ‘Virginia model’ for regulatory modernization has become the gold standard across the U.S., with other states and federal agencies looking to replicate our reforms,” said Reeve Bull, director of the Office of Regulatory Management. 

A Youngkin spokesman did not respond Friday to a question asking whether artificial intelligence had already played a role in reaching the initial 25% cut. But officials say the new pilot will “supercharge” the process — especially for agencies still struggling to hit the original target.

As of this week, Virginia agencies had eliminated 47.9% of the words in their guidance documents and streamlined 26.8% of the regulatory requirements on the books, the administration said in a news release, emphasizing that most agencies are on track to meet or exceed the 25% goal, while a handful may need an extra push — potentially from AI.

“The Office of Transformation continues to look for ways to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our state government,” said Chief Transformation Officer Rob Ward. “We look forward to working with our Office of Regulatory Management to apply the power of AI to our regulatory environment.”

Youngkin has tied the regulatory rollback to what he views as broader economic success in Virginia. At Tuesday’s event inside a sweltering Southside Richmond warehouse, he rattled off investment and job creation numbers alongside regulatory cuts — $120 billion in new business commitments, 270,000 new jobs, and 15,000 high-growth startups.

“Today is about results,” he told supporters and business leaders. “Today is about commitments kept. Today is about promises made — and a team of extraordinary individuals working together to keep those promises.”

The reform effort stems from Executive Order 19, signed in 2022, which launched a sweeping, government-wide audit of regulations, permitting practices, and guidance documents. That process has resulted in the streamlining or repeal of nearly 89,000 individual requirements, officials said.

Among the most visible impacts are regulatory timelines at the Department of Environmental Quality that have reportedly dropped by 65%, while the Virginia Department of Transportation has cut 20,000 regulatory items. 

In housing, Youngkin said updated building code rules reduced the cost of constructing a new home by nearly 6%, saving homebuyers roughly $24,000. Brian Horn, at the time director of the Department of Housing and Community Development, led the charge on that front, streamlining more than 48,000 housing-related regulations. 

Environmental regulations were also a target. Andrew Wheeler, former EPA chief under President Donald Trump and now a key architect of Virginia’s regulatory review system, said his office found that more than half of all regulations had been drafted by agencies without external review. He highlighted stormwater regulations as one area where the volume of rules was drastically reduced — from 23 inches of printed materials to just five.

Still, Youngkin has emphasized that the effort wasn’t about cutting corners. “We’re not saying all regs are bad,” he said. “What we’re saying is excess regulation is bad.”

To track agency progress, Youngkin told reporters that the administration has been using a color-coded dashboard — green for those ahead of schedule, yellow for those close behind, and red for laggards. 

And as Virginia eyes a new 35% reduction target, the AI pilot is expected to help maintain momentum across the board, the administration said.