State Permitting Council

New permit help with clear limits

Beginning May 6, 2026, Utah creates a permitting coordinator in the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity. The office’s executive director appoints the coordinator after consulting relevant permitting agencies. People and businesses with projects needing state permits get help finding requirements, application guidance, agencies, and contacts. The coordinator helps agencies coordinate reviews and works with tribal governments and federal permitting partners. The coordinator identifies process improvements and possible law changes, and helps agencies make improvements when asked. The office’s annual report must describe this work, recurring permitting problems, and recommended changes. Help excludes mainly routine permits and personal licenses, registrations, or identification matters. The coordinator cannot issue, deny, add conditions to, or change permits; agencies keep their decision-making powers. Applicants gain no right to faster or favored review, and approval is not presumed. Coordination does not require agencies to approve or change permits or make binding agreements unless law expressly allows it. The law provides no new funding and makes no direct changes to taxes, benefits, wages, or fees.