Press Releases

Today, Rep. Celeste Maloy (UT-02) reintroduced the Full Responsibility and Expedited Enforcement (FREE) Act in the 119^th Congress to streamline the federal permitting process. This legislation would establish a permit-by-rule system. U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Ted Budd (R-NC) are leading this legislation in the Senate.

“Utah is growing rapidly. Unfortunately, executive agencies are often excruciatingly slow at granting permits, delaying critical projects that support rapid growth — especially in states like Utah where the majority of the land is federally controlled. The time is now to reform and streamline the permitting processes. I'm excited to see that President Trump, by executive order, has already directed his administration to begin that reformation – including through permit-by-rule – and I look forward to working with Senator Lummis and Senator Budd on advancing this bill," said Rep. Maloy.

“Under four years of the Biden administration’s failed leadership, our permitting process is woefully backlogged and incredibly difficult to navigate,” said Senator Lummis. “The federal permitting process has become years-long, which discourages investment and innovation all together. Implementing permit by rule processes will streamline approvals and help us address backlogs.”

“All too often, the federal permitting process is slow, expensive, and confusing. That is why President Trump directed federal agencies to consider a ‘permit by rule’ system in his day one Unleashing American Energy Executive Order. Now Congress should make this policy permanent to reduce bureaucratic delays and compliance costs, and create a transparent and predictable regulatory environment. I’m proud to partner with Senator Lummis and Representative Maloy in this effort to implement a ‘permit by rule’ system to federal permitting,” said Senator Budd.

Full text of the legislation here.

Section by section of the FREE Act here.

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 180 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.

Past Action on the FREE Act:

June 18, 2024: Rep. Celeste Maloy Introduces Bill to Streamline Federal Permitting Process

July 30, 2024: Congress must reform our outdated permitting process

September 20, 2024: House Committee on Oversight and Reform passes the FREE Act