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President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday claiming broad authority over California's wildfire recovery—and the move has massive implications for every Western state facing the threat of catastrophic wildfires.
Trump's order accuses California leaders of "catastrophic failures" and aims to let federal agencies bypass local safety permits in rebuilding neighborhoods burned in the 2025 Palisades and Eaton Canyon fires. The order also directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration to craft rules allowing builders that receive federal funds to preempt local building permits and "self-certify" that they meet safety standards.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted the move as political theater and a cover for the president's refusal to release tens of billions of dollars in disaster aid for Californians. Newsom said Los Angeles has already issued more than 1,600 rebuilding permits, with timelines twice as fast as before the fires, and that the real bottleneck is the Trump administration sitting on nearly $34 billion in recovery funds.
“Instead of finally sending to Congress the federal relief Los Angeles needs to rebuild from last year’s firestorms, Donald Trump continues to live in fantasy land,” Newsom wrote on X.
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When the smoke clears, much of the architecture underpinning public-lands management will be in ruins. But in that clearing lies a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink and rebuild and design a system that is more nimble, coherent, and capable of meeting the challenges ahead.”
