Bipartisan lawmakers on Tuesday praised Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s push to streamline New Jersey’s environmental permitting, a longtime morass blamed for delaying much-needed housing and other key projects.
Her plan, which includes $4 million in proposed new funding to add staff to the Department of Environmental Protection, is part of her initiative to make state government more efficient. She also wants to modernize the department’s information technology, according to documents supporting her $60.7 billion proposed state budget.
A time-consuming regulatory process is a perennial concern for New Jersey’s leading business and environmental groups. Critics say the system bogs down vital housing and energy infrastructure projects that could lower consumer costs while affordability is a top concern for many New Jerseyans.
Sherrill’s push to modernize environmental permitting is part of a broader multiagency initiative since she took office on Jan. 20. Both political parties showed support on Tuesday in Trenton during a hearing on the DEP’s proposed operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
“That’s tremendous and I support that additional funding for resources because Governor Sherrill has made it clear we need to streamline the process to cut through the red tape and bureaucracy,” Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Chair Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) said.
Sen. Doug Steinhardt (R-Warren) quipped: “One of the things that I think New Jersey does well is red tape and bureaucracy. It’s one of the many reasons, I think, New Jersey is as expensive a place as it is to do business.”
“Any actions that would seem to be able to cut down the timelines for permit approvals would be a welcomed change,” he said.
Credit: NJLegTuesday’s hearing came as the Legislature continued a close review of Sherrill’s broader budget plan for the 2027 fiscal year. The governor and lawmakers must agree on a budget by July 1. If they cannot, the state constitution requires a government shutdown.
In all, the DEP is due to receive a more than $12 million year-over-year increase in state funding compared to what was originally budgeted by lawmakers and then-Gov. Phil Murphy for the current fiscal year, according to DEP Commissioner Ed Potosnak.
The funding boost for the more than 3,000-employee agency comes as Sherrill has proposed some $2 billion in budget cuts to help narrow a structural budget imbalance. She maintains that gap between projected annual revenues and expenditures threatens the state’s long-term financial sustainability.
“As the governor shared last month when she introduced the most fiscally responsible budget proposal in years, tough decisions long deferred by previous administrations must be made,” Potosnak told lawmakers. “But despite those fiscal challenges, it does not mean that the most pressing environmental issues will be overlooked.”
With the planned hiring for improved permitting operations, Sherrill’s budget would increase the DEP’s full-time state-funded staffing to a 15-year high, Potosnak said.
“We are confident that the support included in the governor’s proposed budget will enable us to hit the ground running on our core priorities and showcases the governor’s commitment to making government work better for New Jerseyans,” he said.
Sherrill, a former congresswoman who is a newcomer to state government, has prioritized improved efficiency, customer service and transparency during her first few months in office. This includes her “Saving You Time & Money” policy agenda.
Her push to improve DEP permitting operations comes as New Jersey’s unemployment rate is higher than the national jobless average, and as many residents say they are harboring negative views about the state economy, according to a recent Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.
Among her first executive actions was an order to streamline state agency permitting, including with an online dashboard. The executive order also required agencies to draft a catalog of all permits they can issue, and for the administration itself to seat a “regulatory simplification team.”
“Streamlining permitting processes is critical to reducing costs, boosting innovation, creating good jobs, and growing the economy,” Sherrill wrote in the executive order.
This story is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
