Spanberger Changes Virginia’s Regulations Regime

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger quietly issued an executive order over the summer that changed the way state agency regulations are developed and reviewed by the executive branch. The action was required by June 30 but went under the radar because it was announced with only a vague news release.

The new executive order eliminates the Office of Regulatory Management, which was created by former Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2022. The goal of that department was “to make his state’s regulatory regime more efficient, less burdensome, and, above all, accountable to the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia,” as Benjamin Paris wrote for The Heritage Foundation that year.

Spanberger’s policy “directs agencies to evaluate regulations individually, on a case-by-case basis,” Christopher Newport University economist Rik Chakraborti told the Daily Signal. “Agencies are supposed to consider whether a regulation is legally authorized, necessary, understandable, supported by evidence and designed to achieve its objective cost-effectively. Existing regulations must also be reviewed periodically to determine whether they should be retained, amended or repealed.”

When Youngkin took office, he set a goal of slashing regulations by 25%. Three years later, his office announced that it had trimmed 26.8% of regulatory requirements in the commonwealth.

Chakraborti reviewed and compared both approaches at the request of the Daily Signal.

“The more difficult question is whether the number of requirements eliminated accurately measures the policy’s real benefits,” the economist said about Youngkin’s policy. “The administration also did not release—or I could not find—enough detailed information for the public to independently verify all of its claimed savings.”

With that said, Chakraborti added that “Youngkin’s system had useful features that should not be entirely discarded, in my view, including centralized oversight, regulatory planning, permitting reform and greater attention to compliance costs.”

He expects the new tack to have pluses and minuses as well. “Gov. Spanberger’s approach has the advantage of avoiding an arbitrary quota that may encourage agencies to eliminate requirements simply because they are easy to count. However, eliminating the central regulatory office and its analytical framework could weaken accountability unless the Department of Planning and Budget has access to, and makes use of, sufficient expertise, independence, and resources to perform rigorous reviews.”

The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment from the Daily Signal. However, Libby Wiet, Spanberger’s communications director, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the current administration “has heard from agencies and others who look to regulations for direction on how the last administration’s regulatory policies made it harder for state agencies to update their regulations and guidance documents meaningfully.”

Chakraborti recommended blending the policies of both administrations, as well as enacting laws instead of executive orders, which can change every four years as administrations change. “The General Assembly could establish a permanent, professionally staffed regulatory-review office; require transparent cost-benefit analysis; publish the specific requirements added, changed or removed; track permitting times; and require retrospective evaluation of whether major regulations actually worked.”

He told the Daily Signal that the goal “should be creating a stable process that survives changes in administration and consistently asks three questions: What problem is the regulation trying to solve? Do its total benefits justify its total costs? And is there a more effective or less burdensome way to achieve the same result?”

Codification into law “would provide greater continuity than governing through executive orders while preserving the flexibility needed to respond to new economic, environmental and technological challenges,” the Christopher Newport economist said. Lawmakers may take up the idea when they return to session in January. Chakraborti plans to post a fuller look at the regulatory changes on EconAF, his Substack page.

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