This year, the term DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, has been splashed all over the mainstream media. What does it mean for government to run efficiently? Well, in the world of Washington, that means that taxpayers in every corner of our country have greater oversight into how our hard-earned resources are spent—avoiding new regulations, partisan pet projects, and more.
In Harrisburg, the principle remains the same. What if we had a government that worked for us, the hardworking taxpayer? What if, instead of allowing the bureaucratic process—one that moves at a glacial pace—to determine the rate in which we can build, create, practice, and thrive in Pennsylvania, we had mechanisms in place to ensure that our government was working efficiently to deliver permits throughout the commonwealth?
With efficiency in mind, leaders in the Harrisburg legislature are continuing to bring to the forefront ideas that will allow Pennsylvania to compete with our neighboring states and send a signal: “Pennsylvania is open for business!”
Last year during the 2024 budget negotiations, the legislature found bipartisan agreement around some measures of Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill’s Transparency in Permitting legislation. The SPEED Program, or Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development, requires that the Department of Environmental Protection provide a tracker to monitor the process of permits. This is a great start—and the Senator’s bill, SB 6, will continue to champion this issue as she advocates for the same mechanism included in the SPEED Program to apply to all state agencies. This legislation, if enacted, would put necessary pressure on state bureaucrats to put efficiency at the forefront of the agency and deliver transparency for business owners, practitioners, and taxpayers at large.
For Pennsylvania’s landowners, there’s also a renewed enthusiasm for streamlining the permitting process with respect to the Department of Environmental Protection’s Chapter 105 General Permit process. Representative Charity Krupa, Fayette County, has begun circulating a memo to achieve the following goals:
- Create a Unified Online Application System, so that applicants can submit project details to a single platform
- Standardize DEP-Approved Permit Drawings, to simplify the submission of project designs
- Develop an Instant Notice to Proceed, granting applicants the ability to instantly build once the application is validated and payment has been submitted
- Provide Statewide Consistency in Enforcement, as there is currently no standardized enforcement for DEP inspectors across regions
These reforms move the needle on making Pennsylvania competitive. Pennsylvania is currently the 14th most regulated state in the nation—we must do better. As our neighboring states to the west and to the south continue to build on meaningful regulatory reform efforts, we further incentivize our Pennsylvania population to move to greener pastures. Instead of driving out our population and encouraging businesses to go elsewhere, we can urge Harrisburg to drive meaningful permitting reform policy that ensures Pennsylvania is prioritizing transparency and efficiency and guaranteeing that we send a strong signal that PA is open for business.
Learn more about how you can get involved in our movement for more. Head to americansforprosperity.org.
This is Emily Greene, State Director with Americans for Prosperity-PA.