Hawaii is hoping to stimulate its construction industry, and the current idea is to streamline the construction approval process in order to get more projects underway, reports The Associated Press.
However, this idea is being met with several hurdles in the state legislature. For example, one proposal was to make government construction projects exempt from environmental review. These reviews assess the impact that a project has on the environment, but they can be lengthy and slow down approval.
Not everyone supports skipping the environmental review process in order to get more projects approved. Representative Jessica Wooley reportedly observed, "Everybody in this room probably supports the idea of streamlining, perhaps creating jobs and making sure that important projects for airports are done in a timely and safe way, but at the same time what we're talking about is full-scale exemptions of laws that have been on the books for three decades."
Still, legislators believe that speeding up the approval process will allow more construction companies to begin work and lead to an increase in construction jobs. Defenders of the legislation say that the exemption will only be used for similar projects that have passed environmental standards in the past.
Contractors who are ready to go back to work need to be sure they have the right equipment to get the job done. The auction website IronPlanet offers a broad range of used construction equipment like backhoes, cranes and much more, typically at more affordable prices than buying new.
