Colorado orders permitting overhaul without naming pilot industry
Executive Order D 2026 013 directs four state agencies to help build a permitting-portal pilot, choose an industry by Aug. 15 and digitize at least half of permit volume at two agencies by April 2027.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has ordered four state permitting divisions to speed reviews for strategic-industry projects and help build a statewide digital permitting portal, but the administration has not named the industry for the pilot.
Executive Order D 2026 013, signed Aug. 6, directs the Governor’s Office to choose one industry by Aug. 15 in consultation with the Governor’s Office of Information Technology, the affected agencies and other stakeholders. Eligible clusters are advanced manufacturing, aerospace, bioscience, electronics, energy and natural resources, infrastructure engineering, and technology and information.
The portal would give businesses in the selected industry a single project-intake interface, shared business profile, centralized application-status tracking and industry-specific guidance. The order does not specify eligible projects, applicants or permit types.
The covered agencies are the Air Pollution Control Division, Energy and Carbon Management Commission, Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division, and Water Quality Control Division. They must report by Dec. 15 on portal progress and its future direction, as well as permitting-performance data that could include average processing time, time spent by the state versus applicants, applicant satisfaction and staff productivity.
The agencies also must assign staff to oversee entire permitting workflows, establish productivity benchmarks, provide training twice a year and recommend ways to streamline reviews, including parallel reviews and standardized internal processes. They must evaluate the cost and feasibility of interoperable permitting technology and recommend technology development for 2027 and beyond. The order provides no dollar amount, appropriation, procurement plan or new hiring authorization.
The Air Pollution Control and Water Quality Control divisions must make meaningful progress toward moving paper permit systems online, with a goal of digitizing at least 50% of permit volume by April 2027. The other two agencies must make best efforts to expand digitization “as possible with existing resources,” the order says.
The order says the effort must protect the environment and public health while preserving the purpose of permit reviews. For projects crossing state-Tribal jurisdictions, agencies must acknowledge Tribal sovereignty and provide notification or obtain approval from applicable Tribal governments when required by law before a project begins. The order does not create a separate environmental-review process or add Tribal procedures.
The pilot industry, applicant-eligibility rules, implementation costs and any agency-specific changes to environmental or Tribal review remain unresolved.