Posted on Wednesday, January 29, 2025

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by Ben Solis

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While Donald Trump’s spat with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass grabbed most of the headlines from the president’s trip to wildfire-ravaged southern California late last week, Trump also touched on another issue that he mentioned frequently throughout his 2024 campaign and which could soon become a major topic of national conversation: permitting reform.

During his meeting with California state and local authorities, Trump promised to “open the coffers” of the federal government to help communities rebuild while announcing plans to “waive just about, essentially waive all federal permits. We’re going to have you go very quickly because a federal permit can take 10 years.”

Ironically enough given the Golden State’s liberal bent, Trump’s comments mean that California could become an early beneficiary of his repeated promises last year to reduce the burden of the federal permitting process for everything from new home construction to infrastructure projects and new oil and gas wells.

Permitting costs have exploded in recent decades alongside the dramatic growth in regulatory agencies. A 2021 study by the National Association of Home Builders, for instance, highlighted that government regulations contribute to approximately 10 percent of a builder’s construction costs and more than six percent of the final house price. Delays in obtaining permits can also add an average of six and a half months to construction timelines and increase the final home price by more than $26,000. The same pattern holds for commercial construction.

Another study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that it takes over 4.5 years on average to receive a federal permit for infrastructure projects. Highways and airports take even longer, at seven years – and that’s without the now commonplace flood of lawsuits and rogue partisan judges holding up many projects indefinitely.

Building codes now regulate nearly everything, including wall assemblies, the arrangement of doors and windows, energy consumption, electrical and lighting fixture standards, and occupancy rules. More permit requirements force builders to consider the most distant potential environmental impacts of construction. As a result, homes aren’t being built fast enough, and America’s infrastructure is crumbling before it can be replaced.

For many projects, multiple government agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, are now involved in the permitting process, bogging down construction in endless bureaucracy. Builders must also convince inspectors that their project will not violate even one line in a dizzying web of enormously complicated laws, including the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act.

Several additional layers of permits implemented under the Biden administration are indicative of how cumbersome the process has become to build anything in the United States.

For instance, in 2022, the Biden White House outlined eight “Principles for Addressing Environmental Justice Concerns in Air Permitting.” According to that document, rather than just determining if a building project would release too much pollution into the air, regulators should “conduct a ‘fit for purpose’ environmental justice analysis” and “build capacity to enhance the consideration of environmental justice in the air permitting process.” What exactly “environmental justice” means remains undefined.

Still, more Biden guidelines told bureaucrats how to supposedly enforce “racial equity” in their permitting work – again having nothing to do with the original purpose of the permitting process.

Trump has already begun rolling back these regulations, starting with his executive orders overturning Biden’s mandate for government agencies to infuse “equity” in everything that they do. Additional orders have helped speed up plans for new construction on oil and gas projects, promising to create a second American energy boom like the one seen during Trump’s first term.

Political skills aside, one of Trump’s most noteworthy attributes is his talent as one of the great builders and visionaries in recent American history. From his bold plan to construct “Freedom Cities” to his ambitions to send American astronauts back to the Moon and then to Mars, Trump’s vision for the country emphasizes America’s legacy as a nation of builders. Trump has an acute understanding of how permitting reform plays into that vision – balancing necessary safeguards and precautions while empowering Americans to literally build the future.

However, Trump will also need assistance from Congress. While executive action can bring some immediate relief, long-term changes require legislation. With the GOP now in control of the House, Senate, and the White House – and even some Democrats have indicated they may be open to permitting reform – Republicans should not miss this chance to deliver for the American people and unleash a wave of construction that helps thrust the country into a new golden age.

Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.