The George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center’s 2025 Regulatory Year in Review offers a useful summary of how the regulatory state has evolved over the past year. Rather than focusing on individual rules, the review highlights broader trends in how regulation is being implemented, enforced, and challenged. These trends have significant implications for economic growth, energy production, health care costs, and innovation, as regulatory changes affect investment decisions, project timelines, market competition, and consumer prices.
AFP has consistently worked to advance reforms aimed at reining in regulatory overreach, streamlining permitting, and increasing accountability within the regulatory bureaucracy. The regulatory developments of 2025 provide useful insights into how those efforts are playing out and where further action is needed. Below are three takeaways from 2025, alongside what policymakers and advocates should be watching in 2026.
One of the most significant developments in 2025 wasn’t a single regulation, but an effort to change the process of regulation itself. The Trump administration strengthened oversight of regulatory actions, including increased scrutiny of rulemaking procedures and regulatory justifications. The impact of this strengthened oversight is reflected in recent accounting from the Office of Management and Budget, which shows significant regulatory reductions resulting in approximately $211.8 billion in net cost savings.
AFP has long emphasized that proper regulatory procedures are critical to accountability. Reforms such as the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, sunset laws, and regulatory budgeting help ensure agencies do not issue overbearing or costly rules without clear justification and legal authority.
Energy and environmental regulation remained a key issue in 2025, with a renewed focus on domestic energy production, infrastructure development, and the permitting process. Efforts to revise or repeal existing environmental rules represent a shift away from top-down mandates toward an emphasis on a more bottom-up approach that increases supply, reliability, and permitting efficiency.
AFP works to reform the permitting process and environmental regulations because lengthy timelines and regulatory overreach delay investment, raise costs, and reduce access to reliable, affordable energy. However, many of these changes remain legally and politically contested, as they raise questions about legal authority, environmental review, and the proper scope of agency discretion.
Health care regulation in 2025 largely reflected concerns about cost, competition, and domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity. Regulatory changes related to prescription drug pricing, pharmaceutical production, and patient access indicate an acknowledgment that excessive regulation limits competition and raises health care costs.
However, these regulatory actions alone cannot fix fundamental problems created by decades of overregulation and restrained competition in the health care market. Broader reforms that increase choice and competition are necessary to deliver accessible and affordable health care.
Overall, the regulatory developments of 2025 underscore how overregulation and unchecked agency authority tend to raise costs, slow growth, and limit opportunity, while strong procedural guardrails and regulatory reforms can deliver better outcomes. As regulatory debates continue through 2026, policymakers and advocates should focus on reforms that promote accountability, streamline permitting, expand competition, lower costs, and enable innovation. It is imperative that regulatory agencies operate within clear legal limits, account for real-world costs, and serve the public interest rather than acting as a barrier to affordability, innovation, and economic opportunity.
Nicholas Huff is a Policy Intern at Americans for Prosperity.
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