The bill hit committees in both chambers a week ago, and werebrought to the full Assembly and Senate this week with somechanges, orcompromises. The major change was that while the original billwould have extended old and new permits dating from the end of 2006and set to expire this year if not utilized, through Dec. 2012, thefinal version puts the expiration date at Dec. 21, 2010.

Proponents of the bill cited economic conditions and thepossible impact on getting projects done within the time limitimposed by existing and new permits as the reasoning behind thelegislation. "It takes several years and an average of 157 permitsto get a major project off the ground," Ted Zangari, a member ofthe Newark-based Sills Cummis Law firm and founder of the advocacygroup behind the legislation, told GlobeSt.com a week ago. "Iwould argue that a number of projects would never survive anotherround of approvals.

"I'm gratified that the bill was approved by such overwhelmingmajorities," Zangari tells Globest.com. "I think legislators heardour message that extending permits is about economic development,that it makes no sense to require developers whose projects havebeen exhaustively reviewed and approved by multiple agencies tobegin the process anew, especially when many of those agencies haveexperienced lay-offs and have hundreds of untouched developmentapplications sitting on desks.