In an op-ed published in January of this year, "Wes Moore Should Follow Glenn Youngkin's Regulatory Reform Model," I called attention to the important regulatory reform program initiated by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. Here is part of what I wrote then:
"In June 2022, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an Executive Order establishing a new Office of Regulatory Management – similar to the federal Office of Information and Regulatory Analysis (OIRA) that's part of the Office of Management and Budget. The executive order requires the new office, in coordination with the various state executive agencies, to "streamline the regulatory process and provide important institutional controls." And it establishes a concrete objective for the office: oversee a 25% reduction in regulatory requirements across state executive branch agencies."
As I explained, in December 2022, Virginia's Office of Regulatory Management released a Regulatory Economic Analysis Manual which I summarized this way:
"Written in clear, concise language free from economic jargon, the manual is a step-by-step guide for implementing an effective and efficient process for reviewing proposed and existing regulations. It explains how to perform the analyses required to ensure that the costs of new regulations, or ones already on the books, don't exceed their benefits. To achieve this, the manual describes the process for properly identifying the problem a regulation is intended to address and for identifying alternative approaches to addressing the problem that are the least intrusive and least costly, while still accomplishing their intended objective."
In my January 2023 op-ed, I urged newly inaugurated Governor Moore to look across the Potomac for good ideas regarding implementation of a regulatory reform program of his own.
Now, Reeve Bull, the Deputy Director of the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management, and an acknowledged expert on regulatory matters, has provided a useful update on the Virginia experience in an essay published in Penn Law's The Regulatory Review. In his piece, "A New Approach to Regulatory Budgeting in Virginia," Mr. Bull provides helpful information regarding the establishment of a "regulatory budget," one of the foremost regulatory reform tools. As he explains: "The idea is similar to a budget on government spending: agencies can regulate up to a certain amount, but, beyond that level, they need to get rid of old regulations in order to adopt new ones."
Easy to say, but the devil is in the implementation details, of course. So, Mr. Bull usefully discusses the nitty-gritty of several different regulatory budgeting approaches, including the one on which Virginia has chosen to focus: seeking to reduce the total number of regulatory restrictions by 25 percent by the end of the Youngkin Administration."
To be clear, we're not talking about willy-nilly deregulation for deregulation's sake. Mr. Bull emphasizes, and I agree, that the overriding goal is "to roll back regulatory burdens while still preserving necessary public protections." A proper balance can be achieved if the right reform tools are put in place.
In his inauguration remarks last January, Governor Moore acknowledged that, among the states, Maryland is "44th in the nation in the cost of doing business." The existence of excessive regulatory burdens – regulations that are no longer needed because of changed conditions or in which the costs exceed the benefits – are a significant contributor to Maryland's poor "cost of doing business" ranking.
Improving Maryland's business climate, including by reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens, shouldn't be a partisan issue.
Thus far, Governor Moore has not devoted much attention to implementing a meaningful regulatory reform program in Maryland. For the sake of the state's economic health, he should. And, by way of example, he would be wise to look to Governor Youngkin's regulatory budgeting model and the other reform work undertaken by Virginia's Office of Regulatory Management.
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