Youngkin celebrates 25% reduction in regulations

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Governor Glenn Youngkin says his administration has reached his goal of reducing regulations by 25% by the end of the year. 

“Many of them can just be eliminated, many of them were duplicative, many of them were written decades ago, and really don’t have any application today, other than to make things hard on businesses and people,” Youngkin said. 

Youngkin said since taking office, 89,000 regulations have been cut, combined or streamlined. Youngkin added that those regulatory changes have made it cheaper to do business in Virginia. 

“Businesses thrive when they don’t battle the government every single day, and businesses close when they do battle the government,” Youngkin said. 

Youngkin told reporters at an event in Richmond on Tuesday that the regulatory reforms have netted $1.2 billion in savings for people and businesses who no longer have to file certain paperwork or comply with burdensome rules. 

“We went to look at the whole building code and said there’s huge regulations in the building code, let’s reduce them. Maintain safety, but let's reduce them. What we found is that there was $24,000 of cost savings to building a home. That reduces the cost of the home by nearly 6% and that means someone has to pay less to get into the home of their dream,” Youngkin explained. 

Youngkin said he now wants to see regulations streamlined by an additional ten percent by the end of 2025.