SB1663 - 542R - Senate Fact Sheet

Purpose

Directs the Governor to appoint a State Permitting Director (Director) to implement an online state permitting dashboard for coordination of applicable required state authorizations for eligible projects that participate. Prescribes requirements for project eligibility, powers and duties of the Director and state agencies, and processes for dispute resolution relating to the state permitting dashboard.

Background

Statute prescribes requirements for various permits that a person may be required to obtain in order to commence an infrastructure construction project. Permit requirements vary based on the type of project and are administered by the respective state agencies.

There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.

Provisions

Participating Projects

1. Allows the project sponsor of an eligible project to submit to the Director notice that the project sponsor is initiating a proposed project and requires the notice to include:

a) a statement of the purposes and objectives of the proposed project;

b) a concise description, including the general location of the proposed project and a summary of available geospatial information;

c) a statement regarding the technical and financial ability of the project sponsor to construct the proposed project;

d) a list of agencies that may require authorizations for completion of the proposed project;

e) a statement of any authorization that is anticipated to be required to complete the proposed project; and

f) an assessment that the proposed project meets the definition of an eligible project and a statement of supporting reasons.

2. Defines eligible project as an activity in Arizona that requires authorization by an agency, that involves infrastructure construction for renewable or conventional energy production, electricity transmission, mining, land revitalization, surface transportation, aviation, water resource projects, wastewater projects, broadband, pipelines or manufacturing or any other activity as determined by the Director that is:

a) subject to applicable state environmental laws, permitting regulations and other relevant government authorizations, the size and complexity of which, in the opinion of the Director, make the project likely to benefit from enhanced oversight and coordination; and

b) likely to require a total construction investment of more than $25 million, unless otherwise declared by the Director.

3. Defines authorization as a license, permit, approval, finding, land use permit, determination or other administrative decision that is issued by Arizona to site, construct, reconstruct or commence operations of an eligible project that is administered by an agency.

Director

4. Directs the Governor to appoint a Director to establish and maintain the state permitting dashboard, which is an online tool for agencies, project developers and interested members of the public that contains a visual interface that tracks the status of each authorization required for participating projects.

5. Requires the Director to determine, within 30 days of the project sponsor's notification submission, whether a submitted project qualifies as an eligible project and whether it will be included as a participating project.

6. Authorizes the Director to display on each participating project's dashboard entry, to the extent consistent with applicable law:

a) the submitted notification;

b) the application and any supporting documents that have been submitted for any required authorization or a notice explaining access to documents that are not available on the website;

c) a description of any decision made that materially affects the status of a participating project;

d) a list of roles and responsibilities for all entities with authorization responsibilities for the participating project;

e) a permitting timetable that includes a comprehensive schedule of dates by which all authorizations and, to the maximum extent practicable, state permits, reviews and approvals will be made; and

f) the completion status of authorizations included in the permitting timetable.

7. Requires the Director to mediate any disputes related to the permitting timetable in consultation with the project sponsor and relevant agency.

8. Allows the Director to declare a project as an eligible project that is likely to require a total construction investment of less than $25 million if the Director finds that other factors make the project likely to benefit from enhanced oversight and coordination.

9. Requires, by December 1, 2021, the Director to submit a report of findings from administration of the permitting dashboard, including authorization completion times by agency, permitting completion times for participating projects and frequency of statements of cause for additional authorizations to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the chairpersons of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee and the House of Representatives Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee or the successor committees, and provide a copy of the report to the Secretary of State.

10. Requires the Director to appear before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on request of the chairperson to report on findings from administration of the permitting dashboard.

State Agencies

11. Requires each agency identified by the project sponsor to submit to the Director all anticipated authorizations within 45 days of the Director's determination of a participating project and requires the agency to include:

a) the steps required by the applicant and the agency to complete each authorization; and

b) the target completion time for each step.

12. Requires the Director to coordinate with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the Arizona Department of Transportation, the State Land Department, the Arizona Department of Water Resources, the Arizona Commerce Authority, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the State Historic Preservation Office, the State Mine Inspector and any other state agency that requires authorization for a participating project.

13. Prohibits an agency from requiring a project to participate in the dashboard.

14. Requires each agency, to the maximum extent practicable, to carry out the obligations of the agency with respect to a participating project concurrently and in conjunction with authorizations of other state agencies, local or tribal governments to integrate authorizations, unless the agency determines that doing so would impair the agency's ability to carry out its statutory obligations.

15. Requires an agency that requires a participating project to have an authorization for completion that was not submitted as part of the anticipated authorizations to provide a written statement of cause for the additional authorization to the Director.

16. Requires an agency to submit to the Director any decision made that materially affects the status of a participating project and any significant document associated with the decision, as allowed by law.

17. Requires the Director to notify the Governor's Regulatory Review Council (GRRC) if a resolution is not reached by the Director's mediation with a project sponsor and relevant agency.

18. Requires GRRC to recommend a course of action within 15 days after notification of an unresolved dispute and allows the Director to require agency action for resolution.

19. Allows GRRC to adopt rules and regulations for dispute resolution regarding permitting timetables.

20. Defines agency as any executive department of Arizona and the State Mine Inspector, excluding the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Miscellaneous

21. Defines terms.

22. Declares the Legislature's purpose of establishing the state permitting dashboard as to increase transparency and continuously improve state authorization and permitting processes for significant infrastructure projects in Arizona.

23. Repeals the permitting dashboard and relevant statutes on January 1, 2028.

24. Becomes effective on the general effective date.