Unraveling Red Tape : Wilson seeks to aid business by reforming permit process

In these difficult times in California, when every penny shaved here and there is seen as important to the bottom line, the governmental red tape that ensnarls business can create even more difficulty and costs than usual. Delays in securing permits and the processing of applications and redundant state requirements are the kinds of headaches that companies, entrepreneurs and investors all want to avoid more than ever before.

This is especially true in light of the lingering recession and the structural changes in the state’s mainline industries, defense and real estate. To ease the burden of government requirements, Gov. Pete Wilson is taking several steps to streamline the regulatory and permitting process. Among them is creating five more one-stop permitting centers like the one now in place in South-Central Los Angeles. The goal is to consolidate requirements of different state agencies at various locations across California.

The governor’s reforms also include a top-to-bottom review of every regulatory board and department in the California Environmental Protection Agency.

A tracking system will help determine how long state permits take to be issued, and businesses will be able to register complaints in customer service surveys.

These are logical next steps in Sacramento’s recent efforts to improve the state’s competitiveness. Employers should be able to save money because of the recent overhaul of the workers’ compensation system. The governor, to his credit, also has signed off on deregulating workers’ comp insurance rates--an important step.

Wilson is declaring that “California is coming back,” but the state has a long way to go, of course. An element critical to recovery is a collective public-private effort to nurture and thrive on change, not resist it.