JobsFirst: Cutting Red Tape, Not Standards
JobsFirst coordinates agency reviews to speed priority permits while preserving Delaware’s safety, environmental, and public oversight standards.
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The Problem With Traditional Permitting
Building new homes, expanding broadband
networks, or developing energy infrastructure often begins with a lengthy
permitting process. Before construction can start, projects may require
approvals from several government agencies, each with its own requirements,
review timelines, and documentation. In many cases, these reviews happen one
after another instead of at the same time, creating delays that slow projects
long before work begins.
According to the State of Delaware, many of
these delays are not caused by environmental regulations or legal standards.
Instead, they result from fragmented workflows, repeated paperwork, and limited
coordination between agencies. JobsFirst was introduced to modernize that
process by improving how agencies work together rather than changing the rules
they enforce.
JobsFirst: How the Permitting Accelerator Works
Launched through Executive Order 18,
JobsFirst created the Permitting Accelerator, a program that supports
priority projects in housing, energy, manufacturing, broadband, water,
wastewater, and mixed-use development. Instead of asking applicants to navigate
multiple agencies independently, the program assigns each approved priority project
a dedicated state coordinator. This coordinator serves as a single point of
contact throughout the permitting process and helps agencies communicate more
effectively.
The initiative also encourages agencies to
conduct reviews in parallel whenever possible instead of waiting for one review
to finish before another begins. Shared timelines and scheduled coordination
meetings are intended to reduce unnecessary delays while keeping every required
review in place. The state has established target decision timelines of 120
business days for most priority projects, 60 business days for
broadband projects, and up to 180 business days for certain complex
energy projects. These targets are designed to improve efficiency, but they do
not guarantee project approval. Every project must still meet Delaware's
existing legal, environmental, and safety requirements.
Improving Transparency Without Lowering Standards
JobsFirst focuses on making the permitting
process easier to understand as well as faster to navigate. As part of the
initiative, Delaware plans to introduce a public permitting dashboard that will
allow applicants and community members to monitor project progress and agency
performance. The state also plans to publish regular reports that measure
permitting timelines and identify opportunities for future improvements.
One of the program's defining principles is
that faster decisions should not come at the expense of public protections.
JobsFirst does not remove environmental reviews, public participation
requirements, or regulatory oversight. Instead, it reorganizes how agencies
coordinate their work by reducing duplicated effort, improving communication,
and creating greater accountability throughout the review process. The
initiative also outlines a long-term goal of developing a single permitting
application that can route information to multiple agencies through one
submission.
A New Model for Government Innovation
JobsFirst represents a different kind of
innovation. Rather than introducing a new product or technology, it redesigns
how government agencies manage complex permitting decisions. The initiative
applies project coordination, shared timelines, centralized communication, and
performance tracking to a process that has traditionally operated through
separate administrative systems.
By focusing first on projects that support
housing, infrastructure, manufacturing, broadband, and public utilities,
Delaware aims to help important developments move through the permitting
process more efficiently while maintaining the standards that protect
communities and the environment. Instead of changing what must be reviewed,
JobsFirst changes how those reviews are coordinated, making government
processes more predictable, transparent, and efficient.
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