Trump signs executive order to ‘preempt’ permitting process for fire-destroyed homes in L.A.
President Donald Trump announced an executive order that will allow victims of the Los Angeles wildfires to rebuild without dealing with “unnecessary, duplicative or prohibitive” permitting requirements.
The order, which the city and state are likely to appeal, claimed local governments failed to adequately process permits and slowed down residents desperate to rebuild in the Palisades and Altadena.
“American families and small businesses affected by the fires must continue to live in a nightmare of delays, uncertainty, and bureaucratic inconvenience as they are displaced from their homes, often without any source of income, while state and local governments delay or hinder rebuilding by approving only a fraction of the permits needed to rebuild,” Trump wrote in the executive order he signed Friday.
The order called on the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to “preempt” state and local permitting authorities.
Residents using federal emergency funds to rebuild will be required to declare to federal officials that they comply with local health and safety standards, rather than going through the usual approval process.
The order comes as the city and county near 3,000 permits issued for reconstruction. A review by The Times in December found that the permitting process in Altadena and Pacific Palisades was moving at a modest pace compared with other major fires in California. As of Dec. 14, the county had issued rebuilding permits for about 16% of the homes destroyed in the Eaton fire, and the city had issued permits for about 14% of the homes destroyed in the Palisades fire.
While Mayor Karen Bass did not immediately comment, the executive order drew intense backlash from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom’s spokeswoman, Tara Gallegos, called Trump an “uninformed idiot” for believing the federal government could issue local reconstruction permits.
“Given more than 1,625 home permits issued, hundreds of homes under construction, and permitting times at least 2x faster than before the fire, an executive order to rebuild Mars would be just as helpful,” Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote. In a post on X, It only shows the number of permits issued by the city of Los Angeles.
Newsom said the federal government should release funding rather than take over control of the permitting process. The governor said what communities really lack is money, not permits.
“Please really help us. We’re begging you,” Newsom wrote.
Rather than engaging in the authorization process, Newsom called on the president to send a rescue package to Congress to help families rebuild, citing a letter from a bipartisan delegation of California lawmakers calling for federal funding.
“Additional federal support is needed as the recovery continues, and our entire delegation looks forward to working collaboratively with your administration to ensure communities in Southern California receive their fair share of federal disaster assistance,” California lawmakers wrote on Jan. 7.
Some in the Palisades agreed that money was a bigger issue than permitting.
“When I talk to people, I think it has more to do with insurance payments or whether they have enough money to complete the construction,” said Palisades resident Maryam Zar, who runs the Palisades Recovery Coalition.
Zar called the executive order “interesting” and said it was fair for the president to call the pace of the recovery slow and unacceptable.
