Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed Executive Order 51 earlier this month, establishing the nation's first statewide regulatory review powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The governor's office announced that the state will use AI to scan all of the remaining regulations in the Virginia Administrative Code and Virginia Register of Regulations to "flag any areas in which the regulation contradicts the statute, identify redundancies, and highlight areas in which the regulatory language can be streamlined."
Since taking office in January 2022, Youngkin has prioritized improving government efficiency and easing regulatory burdens on businesses. Executive Directive Number One directed "all Executive Branch entities under [the governor's] authority to initiate regulatory processes to reduce by at least 25 percent the number of regulations not mandated by federal or state statute." Youngkin established the Office of Regulatory Management (ORM) in June 2022 to achieve this end.
The governor's office announced on July 8 that it had met the 25 percent goal by approving changes "that collectively streamline over 26.8% of [its] regulatory requirements," saving Virginia citizens over $1.2 billion per year. Peter Finocchio, Youngkin's press secretary, tells Reason that the office arrived at this figure by "ask[ing] each agency to calculate the savings to them associated with any action that is taken." The governor's office attributed $700 million of these savings to the regulatory changes made by the Department of Housing and Community Development that "shave $24,000 off the construction cost of a new house."
