Infilla

As the 153rd regular session of the General Assembly of Delaware comes to a close, I want to highlight some key achievements before we enter the summer working period. Since January, our team has been collaborating tirelessly with stakeholders, state agencies, local and federal government partners, and the business community to enhance job growth, affordable housing, transportation, permitting, and economic development. This session, we launched the JobsFirst initiative to tackle business permitting, create jobs, develop new energy generation, build affordable housing and expand broadband access for all. We began by uniting state agencies to create two paths for change: immediate and long-term. On the immediate front, Gov Matthew Meyer signed Executive Order 18 in February and initiated the permitting accelerator. Special thanks to our agency partners for their efforts in getting this off the ground, leading to the successful initiation of our first five projects. IQ Fiber and ECA are just the beginning! We also explored legislative reforms in partnership with GEAR, addressing key changes that had previously been debated but not championed. Special thanks to Rep Bill Bush and Senator Jack Walsh for their leadership on HB 450 - Traffic Impact Study reform. This bill will reduce permitting time by a year and has the potential to generate new revenue for transportation in Delaware, aiding in the fight against sprawl and promoting affordable housing development. I appreciate the support from our industry partners, including HBADE, TNC-DE, Sierra Club of DE, AARP DE, ACEC of DE, Kent Sussex Leadership, The DE Realtors Association, The DE Business Roundtable, ABC DE, and the New Castle Chamber of Commerce. For the long term, we are revamping the Delaware permitting ecosystem while prioritizing safety, environmental regulation, and transparency. We have engaged Infilla to help develop a new technological backbone for permitting. Our goal over the next few years is to create a synchronized one-stop system under JobsFirst for all projects undergoing state permitting, establish systems where they are lacking, unify permit applications, and dismantle agency silos. I am incredibly grateful for the dedication of Collin Willard, Jennifer Jarrell, and Daniel Madrid in keeping everything on track. Additionally, I want to thank Jeffrey Van Horn, PE, from Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), and Brian Boyle and Leslie Reese from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control for their leadership. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to our partners who have supported us throughout this journey, Gov Matthew Meyer, our Cabinet, and the team in OGOV.