Give Gov. Maura Healey credit for proposing changes that would cut environmental review times for some housing projects from a year or more to 30 days. But she should have gone further. As B&T reports, the governor’s plan mostly applies to large apartment projects that “meet a number of criteria, like proximity to transit, location outside of floodplains and energy efficiency.” … There are a bunch of other regulatory strings attached to Healey’s proposal, as the Globe also reports. … What the state needs to do is keep rule changes simple and make them broader in scope, similar to what they’re doing in New Hampshire, where lawmakers just passed a new law that includes cutting both EPA and DOT review times for all housing projects, not just transit-oriented housing, as yours truly recently reported for the Warren Group’s Registry Review. NH is also setting up an online portal in which developers, large and small, and homeowners can track the status of their permit applications. …

Again, give Healey credit for pursuing an Abundance agenda. But it needs to be a bolder Abundance agenda with fewer strings attached. …