It’s not unusual for businesses to grumble about the regulatory hurdles they must clear in Washington state to obtain a permit to build, operate or expand.
Turns out, however, that most companies come away from the process satisfied with their experience, according to a new performance audit released this week by the state Auditor’s Office.
A survey of 4,200 recent permit applicants “revealed a 90 percent overall business satisfaction with permitting processes statewide,” the 39-page report found. The survey, included in the Dec. 30 “Regulatory Reform: Improving Permit Timeliness” performance audit, asked respondents about everything from whether environmental, labor and other regulatory agencies showed customer friendliness and answered permit questions to whether they communicated clearly and adopted a cooperative stance.
That’s not to say there isn’t room for improvement.
For example, although 85 percent of respondents said the time it took to issue a permit was reasonable, 15 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed. And while 83 percent said they were informed of how long it would take to secure a permit, 17 percent said that wasn’t the case.
Those two areas — prompt permit decisions and knowing how long a permit decision will take — also are “what businesses say are their most important permitting needs,” the report noted.
And the stakes are high: Unnecessary delays cost businesses money “through higher expenses and lost revenue,” according to the report, and also “waste staff time and taxpayer money.”
In Clark County, business groups say one of their priorities for the 2014 state legislative session is to get a bill passed that would accelerate permitting and streamline regulations to support transportation projects. Backers include the Columbia River Economic Development Council, the Vancouver-based nonprofit business recruiter and jobs promoter.
In an email to The Columbian, Mike Bomar, president of the economic development council, said he generally agrees with the performance audit’s assessment that “overall permitting feedback has been positive from the private sector.”
But he noted another area of double-digit dissatisfaction highlighted by the report: Although 83 percent of respondents said state agencies offered innovative solutions to permit problems, 17 percent said that wasn’t the case.
Bomar said some of the permit challenges he’s aware of are tied to unique projects involving not only a state agency but a federal one, too. It’s in those situations, he said, that collaboration and innovative solutions become keys to getting things done.
In addition to seeking a faster permitting process, he said, the CREDC also hopes to help create a system that improves collaboration between businesses and permitting agencies.
“This report,” he said of the audit performance, “provides useful information that will assist in this effort.”
The report says agencies could cut the time it takes
to issue permits “through simple improvements,” including tracking and publishing permit processing times, providing assistance to applicants early in the process and by using performance data to identify and eliminate bottlenecks.
From 2006 to 2010, 14 state agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Ecology, Labor & Industries and Transportation, processed nearly 2 million business permit applications, according to the report. Washington state is home to nearly 235,000 small businesses and sole proprietors, the report says, and more than 3,700 large businesses “that together employ more than 2.7 million people.”
Many permits that businesses need to operate or expand “are designed to help protect the environment,” according to the report. “Other permitted activities range from performing electrical work to selling homemade food at a farmer’s market.”
