The Secretary of State or other State officer or employee as the Governor may designate to manage this program within the Department of State shall develop a system of consolidated and contemporaneous review of State and local agency-issued business permits for the purpose of accelerating the process of issuing business permits, eliminating redundancy among different levels of State and local government, and ensuring more consistency in permit issuance. This system shall be adopted by rule pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L. 1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.).Under such system, any county or municipality issuing a business permit shall be encouraged and incentivized to voluntarily join in a collaborative effort to manage the permitting process for a business project with any State agency, as applicable to each project, and jointly agree on a process and schedule for a cooperative and contemporaneous handling of business permits and approvals. Any municipality issuing a business permit or approval pursuant to the "Municipal Land Use Law," P.L. 1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et seq.) shall not be subject to the provisions of this act. A permit or approval related to a federally-funded program or project or a permit or approval that is specified or determined by or pursuant to federal law or regulation shall not be subject to the provisions of this act.
N.J.S. § 52:14B-28