The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is one of the most high-profile experiments in Trump’s second administration. With billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk at the helm, DOGE has been tasked with slashing government waste and reducing bureaucratic staffing levels. While DOGE’s efforts have been bold and aggressive out of the gate, its reforms are also sparking controversy and creating uncertainty due to their unselective nature. In contrast, Virginia has pursued a more methodical approach to reducing red tape, saving taxpayers billions while avoiding the turbulence that accompanies indiscriminatory spending cuts.

Unlike past government reform efforts that tend to take a more incremental approach, DOGE has embraced what Elon Musk calls a “radical” strategy to shrink the federal bureaucracy. It is auditing agency spending, cancelling grants, and rescinding federal contracts. At the same time, DOGE has pursued deep agency budget cuts, offered a buy-out package to federal employees and imposed significant reductions in staffing at departments like the U.S. Agency for International Development.

DOGE is also sparking a wave of state-level government efficiency reforms. New Hampshire’s new Commission on Government Efficiency will make recommendations on cutting state spending and streamlining government operations. Oklahoma’s new Division of Government Efficiency (DOGE-OK) will review agency spending to ensure it aligns with legislative intent and benefits Oklahoma taxpayers.

While these initiatives are just getting started, Virginia has already spent years implementing its own regulatory efficiency model. In fact, regulatory reform has been a consistent theme across the two most recent Virginia governors. Under former Gov. Ralph Northam, the state launched a regulatory reduction pilot program in 2018, which focused on cutting unnecessary occupational licensing requirements. Then, under Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Virginia created the Office of Regulatory Management (ORM) in 2022, a new centralized regulatory oversight office.

While both the federal DOGE and Virginia’s ORM aim to improve government efficiency, their approaches have some sharp differences. DOGE has often focused its cuts on politically controversial programs, such as those related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, foreign aid, climate initiatives, and public health grants. In contrast, ORM has pursued a more orderly, bipartisan approach, taking a regulatory reform that began under a Democratic governor and expanding it under a Republican one.

Virginia’s ORM was created with a clear mission to reduce counterproductive red tape while ensuring regulations remain effective and justified. A key component of this effort has been a goal to cut 25 percent of regulatory requirements across state agencies. ORM has also worked to streamline permitting processes through the creation of a new online permit tracking system.

To guarantee that regulations are economically sound, ORM enforces new cost-benefit analysis requirements, forcing agencies to demonstrate that proposed rules can justify their costs. In contrast to DOGE, ORM takes a more evidence-based approach, subjecting regulations to analysis requirements that emphasize whether rules solve a real problem and do so at a reasonable cost.

In a new paper for the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, I explain how Virginia’s ORM-driven regulatory reforms have already saved the state an estimated $1.2 billion per year. Building Code reforms alone have saved $723 million, reducing the cost of constructing a new home by $24,000. Businesses have benefited from 85 percent faster licensing approvals at the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. DPOR averaged 33 business days to process licensing applications, which was reduced to just five business days, yielding $179 million per year in additional earnings potential.

Improvements to stormwater management regulations have resulted in a yearly $124 million in savings, while a new general permit process at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission has cut costs by $47 million. Even election processes have seen cost reductions, with the elimination of witness signature requirements for absentee ballots generating $7.1 million in annual savings.

Despite ORM’s achievements, the office remains vulnerable. Since most of its reforms were implemented through executive order, the next governor could undo them overnight. If Virginia wants to make sure its regulatory reforms last, the state legislature should make ORM permanent. Codifying ORM into law would provide much-needed stability for businesses and guarantee that the progress made in the last few years is not easily reversed.

Regulatory reform tends to work best when it is based on a consensus. That usually means data-driven and bipartisan. While DOGE is undoubtedly making progress with its chainsaw approach to the federal budget, the ultimate success of its reforms is still uncertain. On the other hand, Virginia has already proven that smarter government is possible and is actively saving taxpayers billions. As other states look for a model for government efficiency, they should be looking to Virginia in addition to DOGE.