Youngkin’s new executive order looks to improve permitting, licensing process for Virginians

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Governor Glenn Youngkin has signed an executive order that aims to improve the approval process for permits and licenses in Virginia.

On Friday, Oct. 18, Youngkin signed an executive order that directs state agencies on ways to improve their approval process for permits and licenses in Virginia.

According to Youngkin, Virginia agencies issue more than 400,000 permits, licenses, certifications, registrations and other forms of agency approval each year with over 600 different types of approvals. These are in addition to the almost 3 million traditional driver’s and gaming licenses issued annually.

The executive order states in fiscal year 2024, it took an average of 10 days to process completed approval applications, which resulted in Virginians waiting over 11,000 years for approvals collectively.

Youngkin said if wait times were reduced by 10% it would result in Virginians waiting 1,100 years less annually.

“Time spent waiting for an approval is time that could otherwise be spent building houses, teaching students, or undertaking hundreds of other productive activities,” Youngkin said in the executive order. “That freed-up time includes Virginians getting to work earlier with their professional licenses, development completed earlier for housing, and major projects achieved earlier to address critical infrastructure.”

According to Youngkin, Executive Order 39 will direct agencies to:

• Provide additional data on the approvals they issue by Dec. 13, 2024.
• Improve the process for issuing approvals in the following four ways:
  • Eliminating obsolete approvals
  • Including approvals involving multiple steps on the Virginia Permit Transparency, which is an expanded tracking system that covers over 100,000 applications issued per year across six agencies
  • Reducing approval processing times through streamlining
  • Digitizing and enhancing the user experience for the approval application process
• Submit their improvement plans by Dec. 13, 2024.
• Report on their achievements by Jan. 31, 2025, and then quarterly thereafter.

In the executive order, Youngkin highlighted several state agencies that have reportedly improved their transparency and efficiency over the last couple of years, such as the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

According to Youngkin, customer wait times at DMV service centers were cut by more than 70% for the 3.5 million Virginians who annually frequent the DMV from 37 to 10 minutes as a result of Executive Order 5 signed in 2022.

Youngkin said Executive Order 39 is meant to build upon these efforts and ensure the Commonwealth supports the thousands of Virginians applying for permits, licenses and other forms of agency approval.

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