LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he has signed an executive order to “cut through bureaucratic red tape” and speed up reconstruction of tens of thousands of homes destroyed by the January 2025 Los Angeles area wildfires.
What You Need To Know
The order seeks to allow homeowners to rebuild without contending with “unnecessary, duplicative, or obstructive” permitting requirements, the White House said
The Palisades and Eaton fires killed 31 people and destroyed about 13,000 residential properties
It wasn’t immediately clear what power the federal government could wield over local and state permitting
A spokesperson with the Governor’s Office told Spectrum News the president should grant wildfire survivors federal disaster funding
Trump’s order, signed Friday, seeks to allow homeowners to rebuild without contending with “unnecessary, duplicative, or obstructive” permitting requirements, the White House said in a statement.
The order directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration to figure out a way to issue regulations that would preempt state and local rules for obtaining permits and allow builders to “self-certify” that they have complied with “substantive health, safety and building standards.”
A spokesperson with the Governor’s Office told Spectrum News the president should grant wildfire survivors federal disaster funding.
“Trump is a clueless idiot who believes that the state and federal governments can issue local rebuilding permits and LA gets its water from the Pacific Northwest.”
“Trump has demonstrated a complete lack of leadership or compassion for this community, visiting the Palisades once and completely ignoring Altadena. While Trump is picking out gaudy gold décor and new flooring for his unnecessary remodel, this community is STILL waiting for him to grant disaster recovery funding. He should keep LA out of his mouth unless he is planning to grant them the federal disaster funding they need.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the 5th supervisorial district, emphasized in a statement that the county already has a self-certification process to help expedite rebuilding:
“I welcome any effort to responsibly accelerate rebuilding. Los Angeles County already has a local self-certification process to help expedite rebuilding, along with streamlined approvals for modular, factory-built homes, and pre-approved plans. Permits currently spend just over 30 business days in the County’s plan check, with additional delays stemming from the complex multi-party work of architects, engineers and builders.
“I appreciate the Administration’s acknowledgement of the important role FEMA plays in disaster recovery. The most urgent need in the Altadena region is financially driven. Families lack the capital to kick start or continue their rebuilding plans. Our County will soon face a mass sheltering crisis as survivors’ insurance and emergency relief funds run out.
“As FEMA’s role expands into this new recovery function, I’m hopeful that the federal government will collaborate with our County to implement a mass housing and sheltering program and offer long-term disaster aid (such as Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds) so we can accelerate recovery. All survivors deserve full support from all levels of government so they have a fair shot at rebuilding their lives.”
Rep. Brad Sherman, who represents California’s 32nd Congressional District that includes Pacific Palisades, Malibu and other areas, told Spectrum News in an interview that the news of the order had marred a “great day” that saw Palisades Charter High School students heading back to their campus about a year after the school was damaged in the wildfire.
“I think this is as likely to take effect as an invasion of Greenland. The order by itself just tells other federal agencies to issue regulations, and lawyers are involved in writing regulations, and the first thing they’ll say is, ‘you can’t do that.’ And then the second thing they’ll say is, ‘you shouldn’t do that’ because the Build Back Better requirements of California ought to be applied,” Sherman said, who pointed out the order attacked firefighters by blaming them when winds fuel the deadly fires.
Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office told Spectrum News in a statement, “The California Department of Justice is committed to protecting Californians and defending the laws of our state. Our office is reviewing the executive order. If President Trump would like to help Los Angeles families, he should start by releasing long-delayed wildfire recovery funding.”
Fewer than a dozen homes had been rebuilt in Los Angeles County as of Jan. 7, one year after the fires began, The Associated Press found. About 900 homes were under construction.
The Palisades and Eaton fires killed 31 people and destroyed about 13,000 residential properties. The fires burned for more than three weeks and cleanup efforts took about seven months.
It wasn’t immediately clear what power the federal government could wield over local and state permitting. The order also directs federal agencies to expedite waivers, permits and approvals to work around any environmental, historic preservation or natural resource laws that might stand in the way of rebuilding.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called on the president to provide federal funding.
“The President has no authority over the local permitting process, but where he could actually be helpful is by providing the critical FEMA funding we have been asking for, by speeding up FEMA reimbursements, and by regulating the industries that he alone can impact. In fact, I’m calling on the President to issue a new Executive Order to demand the insurance industry pay people for their losses so that survivors can afford to rebuild, push the banking industry to extend mortgage forbearance by three years, tacking them on to the end of a 30-year mortgage, and bring the banks together to create a special fund to provide no-interest loans to fire survivors.
“The President should handle his business, because we are handling ours. Construction has started at more than 450 homes in Pacific Palisades and rebuilding plans are being approved in half the time compared to single-family home projects citywide before the wildfires, with more than 70% of home permit clearances no longer required. I will continue working with all local, state and federal partners to expedite the rebuilding process and get families home.”
“The Executive Order he issued today is another meaningless political stunt and an attempt to divert attention away from his continued attempts to terrorize U.S. cities, which has resulted in three U.S. citizens recently being senselessly killed by heavily armed and poorly trained federal agents – Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis and Keith Porter Jr. in Los Angeles.”
Permitting assistance is “always welcome,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivor’s Network, a coalition of more than 10,000 Eaton and Palisades fire survivors, but it’s not the primary concern for people trying to rebuild.
“The number one barrier to Eaton and Palisades fire survivors right now is money,” said Chen, as survivors struggle to secure payouts from insurance companies and face staggering gaps between the money they have to rebuild and actual construction costs.
Nearly one-third of survivors cited rebuild costs and insurance payouts as primary obstacles to rebuilding in a December survey by the Department of Angels, a nonprofit that advocates for LA fire survivors, while 21% mentioned permitting delays and barriers.
In addition, the executive order also directs U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FEMA acting administrator Karen Evans to audit California’s use of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding, a typical add-on in major disasters that enables states to build back with greater resilience. The audit must be completed within 60 days, after which Noem and Evans are instructed to determine whether future conditions should be put on the funding or even possible “recoupment or recovery actions” should take place.
Trump has not approved a single request for HMGP funding from states since February, part of a wider effort to reduce federal funding for climate mitigation.