Almost three years ago, Governor Youngkin announced a bold vision for streamlining regulation in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He set the ambitious goal of reducing regulatory requirements by 25%, and he created the Office of Regulatory Management (ORM) to lead that effort.

Now, we are delighted to announce that Virginia agencies have completed actions that will take Virginia across the 25% mark! The distinction of getting Virginia across the finish line belongs to the Department of Energy.

 

Department of Energy eliminates document incorporated by reference containing 6,600+ requirements.

Previous installments of the Highlights have discussed the common practice of incorporation by reference: it’s sometimes easier to refer regulated parties to a separate document than to lay out all the requirements in regulatory text. This can be an efficient approach, but incorporated documents can sometimes span hundreds of pages, contain thousands of requirements, and become outdated.

This is precisely what the Department of Energy recently realized with respect to the National Electrical Code (NEC). The incorporated document was nearly 20 years old and contained 6,675 requirements. The Department recognized that other, equally valid standards exist, and therefore eliminated the mandate to comply exclusively with the NEC.

 

Virginia agencies are not letting up on the accelerator!

Congratulations again to the Department of Energy for getting us to 25%! But it’s been a team effort, and every Virginia agency that has spent the last 3+ years hard at work on regulatory reduction shares the credit! Here are some of the agencies that have made the most progress to date:

Top 5: Regulatory Requirements Streamlined
DHCD	-48,185
VDOT	-20,973
ENERGÍA	-6,675
DMAS	-4,711
VITA	-1,445

Top 5: Guidance Document Words Reduced
DEQ	-2,183,500
DOLI	-1,764,250
DHRM	-1,529,823
VDSS	-1,329,778
NSU	-582,121

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a little over six months left in the Administration, we’re pressing down the accelerator rather than taking a victory lap. In fact, ORM just launched a pilot program that will use artificial intelligence to scan regulations and guidance documents for additional reduction opportunities. This final push will help get agencies well beyond the 25% goal and will continue to make Virginia the nationwide gold standard for regulatory modernization.