State is looking at streamlining permit process for developers

With more than 1 million residents out of work, state lawmakers are trying to concoct the right blend of business incentives to bring jobs to Florida.

Supporters hope the proposed mix of tax and regulatory changes will reel in new businesses and tempt existing ones to hire more Floridians. But some environmentalists worry that the Legislature, panicked by high unemployment, might give up too many protections of Florida's resources in the name of job creation.

A preliminary draft of the bill includes tax credits for companies that hire unemployed Floridians, incentives for in-state film production and sales tax cuts on boats and planes. Those and other details remain works-in-progress - particularly the price tag, which has yet to be determined.

Sen. Don Gaetz, chairman of the committee sponsoring the bill, acknowledged that cost could be a thorny issue, as the state faces a budget shortfall next year that could exceed $3 billion. But Senate leaders support the bill, and Gaetz said Senate President Jeff Atwater wants a Senate vote in early spring.

"If we don't take action and help create jobs, there will be less and less revenue," said Gaetz, R-Niceville. "We can't just squabble about smaller and smaller pieces of a shrinking pie."

Efficiency of proposal debated

Still, the deregulation portion worries some activists.

For example, Gaetz wants to limit how long state agencies can review permit applications for development and other business activities. After 30 days, he said, an application would be approved unless an agency could make a case for denying it.

Told of the plan outlined by Gaetz earlier this week, Denise Layne, executive director of the Tampa Bay-area Coalition for Responsible Growth, was outraged.

"No, no, no," she said. "Think about what's happening at the state level now: What you've got is money being squeezed from every department, personnel gone from every department. The survivors are on maximum overload right now. And now you're asking a handful of people, instead of a roomful, to review applications in even less time than currently required? That's insane - they physically won't be able to do it. That's just automatic permitting approval."

It will also cut concerned citizens out of the process, she said. "This is a sleazy way to go about streamlining the process."

Some agencies or types of permits may require more time, Gaetz said, but the drop in business activity statewide should enable most staffs to handle the workload in a shorter amount of time. "Let's lash our economic policy to the economic reality of today."

Also under the Senate proposal, cities and counties wanting to retain control over environmental permitting would have to take on the state's environmental permitting duties as well. Local governments without the resources or the will to take on that role would lose their authority over environmental permitting altogether.

Supporters of local control say it is usually more protective, but businesses have complained for years that local and state permitting is duplicative, slow and costly.

More local authority over permitting would be welcome, said Rick Tschantz, counsel for the county's Environmental Protection Commission, which has already applied to DEP for partial delegation of state permitting.

He is concerned, however, that if the state denied a local government's application to take over state permitting, and then denied the appeal allowed under Gaetz's plan, local control over a wide range of environmental concerns would disappear, almost overnight.

'Red tape' limits job growth

Eric Draper, lobbyist for the Audubon Society of Florida, also questioned whether legislators would change existing law that allows local governments approved to take over state permitting to impose their own, stricter regulations.

"These are things we need to work out with our local government partners," Gaetz said, stressing that the bill remains a work in progress. "What's important is that job creation be a higher-order priority issue than turf battles between state and local governments."

Realistically, said Dale Brill, head of the Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation, a state's ability to stimulate job growth is very limited. Lacking the money to spend its way out of a session, he said, Florida's best hope is to improve its business climate.

"What can you do to lower taxes, and what can you do to get rid of onerous regulation and red tape. Consumer protection is paramount, but you can do it within reason."