In this year’s legislative session, Georgia had an opportunity to address its ever-growing regulatory code and reduce regulatory burdens placed on its citizens and businesses. Although the “Red Tape Rollback Act” passed the Senate, it ultimately failed to become law in Georgia.
Although sidelined in Georgia until at least next year’s session, regulatory reform has been a hot political topic recently, especially this year. This is partly due to the high profile effort at the federal level led by Elon Musk. While DOGE caught national headlines before fizzling out along with Musk’s relationship with the president, other attempts to cut government waste at the state level have proved more effective and more enduring.
Take Virginia, for example. In 2022, the state established its Office of Regulatory Management (ORM) via executive order from Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Three years later, Youngkin announced that the ORM had reduced the number of regulations in the state’s code by 26.8% and is on pace to reach a 33% reduction by the end of his term. This exceeds the originally stated goal of cutting requirements by 25%.
Virginia’s successes don’t stop there. Regulatory word count was reduced by 11.5 million words, over half of the total. The governor’s office estimates that the ORM’s efforts will save Virginians $1.2 billion a year, and changes to the state’s building codes have lowered the cost of building a new home by over $24,000.
In addition to saving money, Virginia also focused on reforming licensing and permitting. The ORM cut approval times for the licensing process from 33 days to five and saved hundreds of millions of dollars in costs across multiple industries. It should be noted, too, that the ORM was able to accomplish this with only four full-time employees.
How did Virginia successfully reform its regulations, and what steps can Georgia take to follow suit? We talk about that in this week’s commentary.
Have a great weekend,
– Kyle Wingfield
Friday’s Freshest 
Look for the migration from New York to only grow
Much has been written about America’s largest city edging closer to electing a socialist mayor. But if Zohran Mamdani is indeed successful in implementing his policy ideas, expect one noticeable trend to continue and likely grow: the number of people leaving New York for greener pastures. While we may criticize bad ideas or bad policy, that’s the beauty of the American federalist system. And for years, Georgia has been on the receiving side of migration from New York.
Georgia’s conservative budgeting pays off, literally
The state government operates under a balanced budget requirement, so there is no deficit spending a la Washington. Still, the state historically has issued bonds to pay for infrastructure projects, from bridges to new college classrooms. Lately, however, it has eschewed even that borrowing – to the benefit of taxpayers. The budget year that begins July 1 will be the third straight with no “bond package,” as that section is typically called. Instead, over the course of three years the state has paid cash for projects totaling $3.45 billion.
6 ways state policy affected your wallet in 2025
Georgia’s 2025 fiscal year will be remembered less for a single marquee bill than for a constellation of measured, taxpayer-focused changes that added up to real relief. Some of the savings recently arrived in bank accounts; others showed up as lower withholding amounts, education assistance or costs citizens never had to absorb.
Homeschooling support for military families: A new opportunity for Georgia
The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced a formal review of how it supports military families who choose to homeschool their children—a move that could significantly benefit Georgia’s large and growing population of service members. The review signals a broader recognition in Washington of what military families have known for years.
Peach Picks 
Gov. Brian Kemp announced in a press release that Georgia has again had the highest ratings of AAA reaffirmed with a stable outlook by each of the three main credit rating agencies: FitchRatings, Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings. This follows last week’s release of Moody’s reaffirmation of this coveted level of financial trustworthiness. For the second year in a row, Georgia has not issued general obligation bonds and has instead funded capital projects with cash, generating a net estimated savings of about $2.81 billion over a 20-year period.
The Georgia Public Service Commission has approved a plan from Georgia’s largest utility that addresses electricity needs for new data centers. The Integrated Resource Plan will allow Georgia Power to have a production rate of between 6,000 and 8,500 megawatts of energy. The Foundation has previously looked into why so many data centers are popping up in Georgia, and what that means for the state.
President Donald Trump relayed that Atlanta based Coca-Cola agreed to use “real” cane sugar in Coke sold in the United States for the first time in decades. In the 1980s, the giant swapped cane sugar, which came with high tariffs, for high-fructose corn syrup — which was made cheaper in the U.S. due to corn farming subsidies.
The results have been lackluster on the field so far this season, but Truist Park and Battery Atlanta are the envy of Major League Baseball teams for another reason. It’s because they have become an economic juggernaut off the field and even when the baseball season is over. This has turbocharged perhaps the most profound change to the professional sports business in a generation.
This week, Atlanta City Councilmember Marci Collier Overstreet called for a comprehensive investigation into an “escalator malfunction” where at least nine MARTA riders were injured leaving a Beyonce concert Monday evening. A MARTA spokesperson said a frenzied crowd created “a stampede on the escalator that caused it to temporarily speed up and then stop suddenly.”
Georgia is setting a national example when it comes to protecting jobs and preserving worker rights, writes State Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville. Thanks to a new state law, Georgia now encourages employers to make sure that any unionization decision is made through a private, secret ballot election.
Off The Vine 
Before the start of the All-Star Game in Atlanta on Tuesday night, Major League Baseball owed Georgia an apology. For background, Atlanta was supposed to host the event in 2021, but the league relocated it to Denver after then-President Joe Biden denounced the new Georgia voting act as racist. After MLB commissioner Rob Manfred claimed the law restricted voters before moving the game, Georgia saw record voter turnout in both the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential election.
Quotes Of Note 
“Make no mistake about it . The boss at home (Ms. Terry) is going to make that call for him, not him.” – Kirby Smart, after rumors that Nick Saban might return to coaching.
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore. No man ever discovers anything without boldness.” – William Faulkner
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” – C.S. Lewis
