Trump executive order seeks to speed up rebuilding of homes destroyed by Los Angeles wildfires
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.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 find 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.”California Gov.Gavin Newsom scoffed at the idea that the federal government could issue local rebuilding permits and urged Trump to approve the state's $33.9 billion disaster aid request.
Newsom has traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for the money, but the administration has not yet approved it.The Democratic governor said on social media that more than 1,600 rebuilding permits have been issued in Los Angeles and officials are moving at a fast pace.“An executive order to rebuild Mars would do just as useful,” Newsom wrote on social media.
He added, “please actually help us.We are begging you.”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 preservat...