10.5 Million Words of Regulation Stand in the Way of Pennsylvania’s Boom

PennLive | By: Dave McCormick In Federalist 62, James Madison warned against laws “so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.” More than two centuries later, his warning rings loud and true. Pennsylvania is in the midst of an unprecedented economic transformation. With more than $100 billion in new energy, AI, and defense investments announced over the past two years, the Commonwealth is on the move. Yet outdated rules, unnecessary paperwork, and government delay—federal, state, and local—threaten to hold us back. We must reduce the regulatory burden while making necessary regulations faster, simpler, and less costly. That is why, on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, I am convening the Red Tape Dialogues at Temple University in Philadelphia. Roughly 100 business leaders from 10 critical Pennsylvania industries will sit down with regulators to identify practical ways to reduce burdens, costs, and uncertainty while preserving essential protections. This is not about politics; it is about good government—something we can all agree on. The Dialogues will not be just another “listening” session. Participants will arrive with proposed fixes to specific rules, forms, laws, or processes and then refine them with industry peers and quantify their impact. This approach—which I have experienced firsthand as a CEO — is well established in the private sector, where businesses work hand in hand with suppliers, customers, and investors to improve outcomes and lower costs. Now we are applying this same concept to government. Within 60 days, I will publish a report outlining those proposals and how we will pursue them with the appropriate state or federal agencies, the Pennsylvania legislature, or Congress. The scale of the problem is staggering. Federal paperwork alone consumes an estimated 11.5 billion hours every year. That is equivalent to the annual labor of 5.7 million full-time workers, more than 44 times the Manhattan Project’s peak workforce. Pennsylvania’s regulatory code contains 10.5 million words—enough to fill roughly 21,000 printed pages stacked seven feet high. It contains more than 166,000 regulatory restrictions, 22 percent more than the average state. Reading the code once would take more than four months of full-time work. And that’s before navigating more than 2,400 state licenses, permits, and certifications. That regulatory burden raises costs for families, stalls investment, and impairs growth. According to the Pennsylvania Builders Association, regulation at every level of government now accounts for 29.5 percent of the final price of a newly built home. But the greatest costs are often unseen: investments never made, businesses never started, jobs never created, and workers blocked from meaningful opportunities and occupations because the barriers are too high. To be clear, the government has a critical responsibility to protect workers, consumers, public health, and the environment. Industry can help regulators meet that responsibility at lower cost by flagging unintended consequences and streamlining opaque processes. The goals of both can and should be aligned. Reducing the burden in Pennsylvania requires two complementary efforts. First, we must eliminate or modernize outdated and unnecessary rules. Second, we must make necessary rules easier to follow through simpler forms, one-stop applications, concurrent agency reviews, firm deadlines, and greater use of technology. The White House recently took an important step on that second front by launching America.gov, an AI-powered front door to help Americans navigate roughly 29,000 government websites. Making the bureaucracy easier to access matters. But we also need to reduce the burden itself. The Red Tape Dialogues are designed to advance both goals. But no single event can undo decades of red tape. It will take sustained cooperation at every level of government—including in Congress, where I am committed to getting permitting reform done this year. Ronald Reagan joked that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” The Red Tape Dialogues are a chance to turn that punchline into a promise that unleashes our commonwealth’s economic potential to the benefit of all Pennsylvanians.