Senate Bill 74 would require annual permitting reports from state departments; agencies urge narrower scope

Senator Howard Pearl told the committee Senate Bill 74 would require state departments that administer permits affecting real property or structures to report annually on permitting activity, categories of permits, application counts, and timelines so applicants and the legislature can see agencies’ performance.

Adam Crapo, assistant commissioner at the Department of Environmental Services, said DES does not oppose the bill’s intent but urged narrowing its scope to land‑use permitting programs (alteration of terrain, wetlands, and related subsurface/septic permits). Crapo suggested integrating any new reporting requirement into the department’s existing statutory reports and noted DES issues roughly 21,000 permitting actions across its programs, with about 10,000 in its land‑resources management area and roughly 220–250 alteration‑of‑terrain permits annually.

Brian Gould, who works in permitting and testified for himself, said the legislature lacks consistent, robust data about agency permitting timelines and that a statutory reporting requirement would supply essential, objective information. Gould noted statutory timelines vary by program (examples cited in testimony included 120 days for some air permits, 180 days for solid‑waste actions, and complex wetlands timelines with serial completeness determinations) and that one agency (DOT driveway permitting) currently lacks a statutory timeline, leading to multi‑year delays in some cases.

Natesh Graves of the BIA/Statewide Chamber of Commerce said the business community supports greater administrative efficiency and would work with the sponsor and agencies; DES agreed to work with the sponsor to narrow reporting to the most relevant programs.

No formal action was taken; the committee asked agencies and the sponsor to work on narrowing scope and to provide implementation estimates.