Maryland state and county leaders are scrambling to attract private-sector employers to soften the blow of federal cuts, which include around federal 25,000 job losses in the state. Tax breaks tend to be the most frequently debated tool, but can be politically contentious and carry a hefty price tag. So a growing number of Democrats took aim at the bureaucratic obstacles, including the permitting process.
It might sound like a technical fix. But the debate unfolding in Annapolis and across Maryland counties is proving to be anything but simple, touching on housing, environmental rules, local control, and what it means for the Democratic party to become more “business-friendly.”
Before the Trump administration began cutting federal workers, Governor Wes Moore was already looking for ways to reduce bureaucratic friction. In December 2024, he signed an executive order directing state agencies to review and streamline permitting processes, a move he said would, “create the climate that is necessary for businesses and talent to grow and relocate in our state.”
For reference, Maryland ranked 32nd out of 50 states on CNBC’s 2025 business-climate index. Virginia ranked fourth, beating Maryland on a number of metrics including “cost of doing business” and “business friendliness.”
The mass layoffs and larger federal cuts in President Trump’s first year back in office added urgency. A post-pandemic slump had already left many businesses struggling. And with three more years of the Trump administration seeking to “right-size” the federal government, democratic leaders in Maryland started calling for ways to ease some of the administrative hurdles for businesses.
Why permitting matters
Want to open a restaurant? Build an apartment complex? Develop an entertainment venue like the Sphere, which is slated for Prince George’s County? Each project requires permits covering air quality, stormwater management, wetlands, building construction, even outdoor seating needs a separate permit. Each of those can take anywhere from a month to more than a year to clear.
Lawyers who handle permitting in Maryland say the requirements have grown more complex and expensive over the years, creating barriers that can deter investment before a single shovel breaks ground.
And between state and local rules, businesses face multiple layers of bureaucracy. In Montgomery County for example, many projects also have to go through the planning board and the county government, a structure that routinely adds to the time it takes businesses to get off the ground.
Jim Soltesz, president and CEO of the engineering and development firm Soltesz and a member of the Maryland Economic Development Corporation board, says county leaders across the state have been asking the same question.
“What can we do to shorten the process, make it more definitive, make it more certain and make it easier so that we can sell our wares for economic development as soon as possible,” Soltesz said.
His advice to leaders in Montgomery and Prince George’s County has been to speed up the process, rather than remove requirements.
Last fall, Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy launched a permit rapid response team, allowing agencies to review applications simultaneously rather than sequentially. She says that change cut permitting timelines from 16 months to six.
And last month, Prince George’s County councilmember Krystal Oriadha introduced a bill to reduce permitting fees for sit-down restaurants. Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González announced legislation to fast-track permits for any company that creates more than 200 jobs within five years.
But the push for faster permitting gets most complicated in housing, where several bills are moving through the Maryland General Assembly.
One measure would require state agencies to streamline housing construction permits, with a State Housing Ombudsman ensuring consistency across agencies. Another, called the Maryland Housing Certainty Act, would lock in permitting rules for five years after a developer receives approval, preventing local governments from changing zoning or other requirements once a project is underway.
But that provision has drawn sharp criticism from some local officials who say it strips communities of meaningful oversight.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich filed testimony supporting the bill, but including amendments so local governments don’t run into administrative and fiscal problems with the timing of the permit lock.
“You can do things too early and you can do things too late,” Elrich explained at a press briefing. “I think the principle of not letting a jurisdiction change the rules after an approval is a good one.”
But Elrich also noted reservations about speeding up permit review processes without having enough staff or funding for permitting offices. He has also faced pressure to pause and change zoning rules for a data center development coming to Montgomery County.
A test for the Democratic party
The permitting debate is arriving at a moment of ideological realignment among Democrats. Nationally and in Maryland, a growing number argue that the party needs to embrace business-friendly reforms if it wants to remain competitive, part of the push for an “abundance” mindset.
But that argument is running headlong into resistance from the party’s more progressive and environmentally focused wings. Those lawmakers and advocates who want guarantees that speed won’t come at the expense of the protections that took decades to build.
“We strongly support these conversations and the devil’s in the details,” said Josh Tulkin the director of Maryland’s Sierra Club in an interview. “We are always cautious that doing something faster does not lead to doing it poorly. We are always worried and watching to make sure that permitting reform does not result in loopholes that allow people to bypass important environmental laws.”
For Moore, whose political brand is now built around moving fast and cutting red tape, the permitting reform movement is an early test. At the local level, even self-described Democratic socialists like Marc Elrich seem to be coalescing around the need to do more to change Maryland’s reputation as prohibitively bureaucratic for businesses.
The bills are still working their way through committee debates at both the state and county level. No final votes have been scheduled.
