Governor Josh Shapiro Enacts Executive Order Guaranteeing 30-Day Industrial Permitting and Vocational Grants

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Governor Josh Shapiro signed Executive Order 2026-06 on Monday at an advanced robotics manufacturing plant in the Lehigh Valley, formally establishing the PA SITES Rapid Action Framework to guarantee expedited 30-day state regulatory reviews for commercial manufacturing expansions and authorizing $120 million in dedicated vocational training grants.

The order builds upon Shapiro's PA Open for Business initiative, requiring the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Department of Transportation (PennDOT), and Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to synchronize review timelines for shovel-ready industrial parks and commercial logistics hubs.

Expedited Permitting and Fee Refunds Under the directive, any commercial permit application submitted under the certified PA SITES program that fails to receive a definitive determination or administrative update within 30 business days will result in an automatic, full refund of all state application fees to the prospective business sponsor.

"For decades, bureaucratic delays and regulatory uncertainty in Harrisburg held back Pennsylvania's economic potential," Shapiro declared. "My administration has fundamentally changed that culture. If you want to build, hire, and expand in Pennsylvania, state government will move at the speed of business."

Workforce Training and Apprenticeship Expansion To support incoming industrial facilities, the accompanying $120 million workforce grant package will fund modernized training equipment and tuition-free certifications across 28 Career and Technical Centers (CTCs) and community colleges in Western and Central Pennsylvania.

Targeted training pathways include advanced CNC precision machining, industrial robotics maintenance, semiconductor packaging, and commercial clean energy grid construction.

Bipartisan Legislative Alignment State lawmakers from both chambers praised the administrative reforms. Legislative leaders noted that streamlining commercial site preparation enables Pennsylvania to compete aggressively against neighboring states for multi-billion-dollar domestic manufacturing and defense industrial investments.

Regional economic development agencies in Pittsburgh, Scranton, and Erie reported that more than twenty major corporate expansion proposals are currently queued for certification under the expedited framework.