President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) directing federal agencies to address what the Trump Administration describes as California state and local permitting failures that have delayed rebuilding after the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Issued “by the authority vested in [the President] by the Constitution and the laws of the United States,” the order directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) to consider issuing regulations that would preempt state or local permitting and pre-approval requirements found to have unduly impeded the timely use of federal emergency relief funds and replace them with a federal self-certification process under which builders attest compliance with applicable substantive state and local health and safety standards.
The EO requires FEMA and SBA to publish any proposed regulations within 30 days of the order and final regulations within 90 days and directs FEMA to continue reviewing rebuilding activities for compliance with applicable standards. The order also directs FEMA and SBA, in consultation with the White House, to submit legislative proposals within 90 days to enable the agencies to address situations in which state or local governments are not enabling timely disaster recovery, including through regulation.
Notably, this EO comes as the SBA Office of Advocacy has separately been urging federal agencies to reconsider regulations it identified as barriers to competition, including Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council rules implementing President Biden’s SWACCA-supported executive order mandating project labor agreements on federal projects valued at $35 million or more.