President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week focused on expediting the reconstruction process for homes that were destroyed by the fires last year in the Los Angeles area.
Trump announced the order on Tuesday, saying it will cut through bureaucratic red tape.
Flashback: Last year, the destructive Palisades and Eaton fires resulted in 31 deaths and around 13,000 homes over three-plus weeks.
- The fires burned nearly 40,000 acres in total.
The big picture: Trump’s executive order directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) to issue regulations that preempt state and local permitting requirements. Under the order, builders can self-certify to a federal agency that they have complied with state and local substantive health, safety and building standards.
- The order directs federal agencies to expedite waivers, permits and approvals for rebuilding projects.
- It also directs FEMA to determine whether any of California’s nearly $3 billion in unspent Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds were awarded arbitrarily or contrary to law and orders a full audit into the funds.
Driving the news: The White House said that only 2,500 of the homes and businesses that were destroyed have received permits to rebuild.
- Further, the White House said less than 10 homes have been rebuilt.
The other side: California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to the order by calling it “useless” in a post on X.
- Newsom called on Trump to approve the $34 billion in disaster aid that the state has requested.
- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that the order is a “political stunt,” adding that rebuilding projects in Pacific Palisades are being approved in half the time that single-family homes took before the wildfires.
