The First 100 Days: A Permitting Playbook - #1 Appoint Pragmatic Visionaries

There are set to be 36 gubernatorial elections in 2026. On the stump, the answer to rising housing costs, infrastructure backlogs, and clean energy delays is increasingly the same across the political spectrum. From New Mexico, where leading candidate Deb Haaland has vowed to cut permitting red tape as a tactic to address the affordability crisis, to Georgia, where Burt Jones has promised to reduce permitting processes to build a stronger job market, it’s clear permitting reform is having a moment.

What most candidates haven’t reckoned with yet is that “permitting reform” is not a single policy. It’s a conglomeration of dozens (maybe hundreds) of small, wonky changes to laws, procedures, and cultures. Campaigning on it is easy, but delivering on it is a different discipline entirely, which is why we’re starting this series.

EPIC has a storied history of working with decision makers who’ve actually waded through the regulatory jungle and found solutions that work. In this series, we’re going to share our playbook of high-impact, politically neutral approaches to permitting reform that governors can execute in their first 100 days without even needing much help from a legislature.