Press Releases

Representatives Celeste Maloy (UT-02) and Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05) applaud the passage of their bill, the Full Responsibility and Expedited Enforcement (FREE) Act, in the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. This bill establishes a permit-by-rule system to streamline the federal permitting process.

“This bill would have a big impact on Utah where much of our land is federally owned. Projects that would improve the day-to-day lives of Utahns are slowed down by an outdated, federal permitting process. My bill will streamline this process and spur innovation and economic growth in Utah and beyond. Passing the FREE Act through committee is an important step in moving this bill forward,” said Rep. Maloy.

“I’m glad the FREE Act quickly passed the Oversight Committee, bringing this much-needed legislation one step closer to becoming law. By cutting unnecessary red tape and implementing a streamlined permitting process, this legislation would prevent project delays that get in the way of economic growth and development. I’ll keep working with Congresswoman Maloy to get this bill across the finish line,” said Rep. Chavez-DeRemer.

Reps. Maloy and Chavez-DeRemer are joined by 24 co-sponsors from across the nation.

Background:

A “permit-by-rule” system allows applicants to certify their compliance to permitting rules following pre-established criteria. This process places the burden of proving applications meet standards on the agencies instead of the applicants. Under permit-by-rule, agencies must grant all permit applications that meet objective permit standards within 30 days, or the permit will be automatically granted. Agencies can still deny applicants that do not meet requirements and may verify compliance.

The FREE Act directs federal agencies to evaluate their permits and report to Congress within 240 days with an assessment of whether permit-by-rule can replace their current systems or make a thorough justification why not. Agencies must then adopt PBR within 12 months for the eligible permits.

Reps. Maloy and Chavez-DeRemer wrote an op-ed on the FREE Act which you can read here.

Full text of the legislation can be found here.