If it had been enacted as introduced, House Bill (HB) 2347(*1) would have established a Regulatory Budget Program, similar to the regulatory reduction pilot program (pilot program) established by Chapters 444 and 445 of the 2018 Acts of Assembly (2018 Acts). These 2018 Acts directed the Department of Planning and Budget (DPB), under the direction of the Secretary of Finance, to “administer a three-year regulatory reduction pilot program beginning July 1, 2018, and ending July 1, 2021."(*2)

The pilot program focused on two pilot agencies, the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR). Each pilot agency was directed to submit a “regulatory catalog," which included a count of regulatory requirements by regulation, and then reduce these “baseline" requirements by 25 percent over a three-year period ending July 1, 2021. DPOR achieved a 26.9 percent reduction, primarily through streamlining, while DCJS achieved 14.14 percent. In addition, 39 additional executive branch agencies subject to the Virginia Administrative Process Act (APA) were required to submit a regulatory catalog by July 1, 2020. In total, complete catalogs were received from 36 agencies.

Unlike the 2018 Acts, which only required 25 percent reductions by DCJS and DPOR, the Senate Substitute for HB 2347 would have required a 30 percent reduction by all 41 regulatory agencies in the executive branch.
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(*1) See https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?ses=231&typ=bil&val=hb2347.
(*2) These 2018 Acts also directed the Secretary of Finance to submit three annual reports on the status of this program. See https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2019/RD403, https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2020/RD394, and https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2021/RD356/PDF.