Pennsylvania was known for an arduous permitting process. New policies aim to accelerate building projects.

When U.S. Steel opted to build a new mill in Arkansas that had originally been planned for Allegheny County, then-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson joked in 2022 that his state could have the mill built faster than Pennsylvania could have it permitted.

Three years later Pennsylvania politicians and business leaders are hopeful that a series of permitting reforms – the latest of which were approved as part of the state’s $50.1 billion budget – have finally flipped that dynamic.

The reforms, which are designed to expedite Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection’s permitting process to allow for quicker development, mark a major step forward in a project that has long been a goal for Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican leaders in the General Assembly.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection is responsible for issuing a variety of permits for building plans to ensure they comply with state law and are environmentally safe. The latest reforms will force the agency to automatically approve certain permits relating to stormwater and groundwater within 60 days if it has not completed its review in that time period or sought an extension. For certain permits related to air quality, the changes allow for the permits to be automatically approved 30 days after submission if the DEP has not acted.

The budget, which Shapiro signed into law last month, also expanded an existing program, called SPEED, that allows companies to hire third party inspectors for certain permits to expedite the process. And lawmakers required the state to create and maintain a database where companies can easily track the progress of their permit applications.

For Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana), the change represents a paradigm shift in the state. He recalled the 2022 loss of the U.S. Steel mill at a news conference last month.

“You cannot have economic development without shovels in the ground, and you can’t put shovels in the ground without permits,” Pittman said.

The reforms, he said, will “provide certainty” which he called, “critical to economic development.”

Amy Brinton, director of government affairs at the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, said it has long been common for businesses to choose other states because of Pennsylvania’s arduous permitting process and at times begin the process of building in Pennsylvania only to move out of state when permitting becomes a hurdle.

“We lose a lot of projects to Texas and Ohio because of our complicated permitting process,” Brinton said.

Remedying this through permitting reforms, as well as expedited certifications, have been among Shapiro’s top priorities as governor.

“When he took office in January 2023, Governor Shapiro promised to make state government work more efficiently and effectively for Pennsylvanians. Since then, the Shapiro Administration has delivered on that promise to get stuff done – streamlining permitting processes, reducing wait times for licenses, and cutting red tape to attract more businesses to the Commonwealth,“ Kayla Anderson, a spokesperson for Shapiro, said in a statement. ”This budget builds on the Governor’s success.”

Shapiro signed several executive orders aimed at that goal including developing a “Fast Track” program for high priority projects. DEP has eliminated the 2,400 permit backlog that existed when Shapiro took office in 2023. Additionally, Shapiro’s office said, the average processing time for all permits dropped to 38 days in 2025 from 53 days in 2022.

Lawmakers first approved the SPEED program allowing for third-party inspectors in the 2024 budget. Shapiro’s office said the program has already produced results, cutting permit wait times in half in some cases.

These projects are a key part of Shapiro’s business-friendly, which he’s promoted as he bolsters his resume and bipartisan appeal ahead of a 2026 reelection campaign and a potential future presidential run.

But Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland) also celebrated the new reforms, as well as the state’s exit from a multi-state carbon cap-and-trade program, as key wins for Republicans.

“The permitting was awful,” Ward said in an interview last month. “Permitting now, instead of 300 days, we’re at 30 days. It’s amazing that we were able to come together and get that done.”

Brinton said she is hopeful that the combination of reforms will make it easier for businesses to choose to build in Pennsylvania because the timeline will be more predictable.

“Improved accountability, greater predictability, faster timelines. Those are the key kind of drivers that we’re hoping this will continue to provide to our businesses in the hopes that when they look at Pennsylvania they won’t wince at the fact that this is going to take forever,” Brinton said.