ACUS Committee Approves Recommendation on Permit Transparency, To Be Considered by Full Conference in December

Reeve T. Bull, Policy Director of the Fulcrum Foundation (and Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States)

Justice Brandeis famously described the states as “laboratories” that could test different approaches and, where successful, serve as a model for other jurisdictions.  In several instances, innovations in individual states have become models not only for other states but also for the federal government.

Last week, the Administrative Conference of the United States’ (ACUS) Committee on Administration & Management voted to approve a recommendation on enhancing the transparency of federal permit and license applications.  ACUS is a small federal agency that includes both a full-time staff and a larger Assembly consisting of 101 voting members drawn from both the public and private sectors.  The 101 members are broken up into committees that consider and vote on draft recommendations.  Those recommendations are then considered and voted on by the full Assembly, which meets twice per year in plenary session.

Among the models the project consultants considered in formulating their recommendations was the Virginia Permit Transparency dashboard launched during the Youngkin Administration.  Indeed, one of the project consultants had earlier written a report for the Foundation for American Innovation exploring the ins and outs of VPT and explaining how other states could adopt similar models.

The VPT website has proven to be a significant success in Virginia, allowing both members of the public and agencies to track permit applications with greater precision.  This has made the process much less of a black box, allowing the public to see exactly where their applications stand.  It also has resulted in reduced processing times, with five of the VPT agencies having reduced processing times by 20% or more by the end of the Youngkin Administration.  And it has alleviated the burden on agencies in many respects.  For example, VPT showed that the delay was often not caused by the reviewing agency at all.  Not infrequently, it was the contractor whom the applicant hired who was sitting on the application.  In short, VPT helps ensure proper accountability both for the agency and all other participants in the process.

The ACUS recommendation calls for several reforms that should substantially enhance the transparency of the federal process and that closely resemble the reforms Virginia adopted with VPT.  It urges states to break down permits and licenses into individual steps to allow for closer tracking.  It encourages agencies to create public websites that provide information such as the core milestones and the median turnaround time for each step of the process.  It also encourages agencies to provide on-demand access to specific information for individual applicants, including the days spent in processing at each stage and the expected completion date.  And it urges agencies to assign staff to manage the overall process.

Now that the Administration & Management Committee has approved the recommendation, it will go to the full ACUS Assembly, which will hold a vote at its upcoming December Plenary Session.  If adopted by the Assembly, it becomes an official recommendation of ACUS, at which point ACUS staff works with agencies to promote implementation.  Several Conference recommendations have gone on to form the basis for important changes in government policy.  And given the extraordinary interest in permitting reform, including recent efforts of the Permitting Council to enhance transparency and efficiency, ACUS’s recommendation should come at a very opportune time and provide valuable guidance on specific steps agencies can take to improve the process.

Federal agencies face various constraints beyond those encountered by Virginia agencies, and the scope of the federal permitting process is much larger than that implemented by any given state.  But even incremental reforms should prove enormously valuable for permit applicants.  Ultimately, as both federal agencies and state governments implement reforms, and local governments consider similar initiatives, their efforts could eventually be consolidated into a one-stop-shop that allows businesses and members of the public to find comprehensive information relating to all permits required for any given activity.

Stay tuned for the results of the ACUS Assembly vote in December.