On January 12, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-4-25 (the “EO”) pursuant to Government Code section 8571, which authorizes the Governor to suspend regulatory statutes during a state of emergency upon determining that strict compliance “would in any way prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the emergency.” (Gov. Code, § 8571.) The Governor had previously, on January 7, 2025, proclaimed a State of Emergency to exist in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties due to fire and windstorm conditions.
The subject EO seeks to “expedite recovery from this disaster [i.e., the burning of over 39,000 acres and destruction or damaging of over 12,000 structures by the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Lidia, Sunset, and Woodley Fires] by eliminating barriers that unduly delay the rapid rebuilding of homes and other facilities destroyed or damaged by the extreme windstorm conditions and resulting fires[.]” Toward this end, the EO suspends the application of CEQA and the CEQA Guidelines (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq; 14 Cal. Code Regs., § 15000 et seq) and the permitting requirements of the California Coastal Act (Pub. Resources Code, § 30000 et seq). to certain “projects to repair, restore, demolish, or replace property or facilities substantially damaged or destroyed as a result of this [fire] emergency[.]” The rebuild projects to be benefitted by the suspensions are those where the replacement “properties and facilities … are in substantially the same location as, and do not exceed 110% of the footprint and height of [destroyed or damaged] properties and facilities that were legally established and existed immediately before this emergency.”
The 3-page EO, a copy of which can be found here, also, inter alia: extends the price-gouging prohibitions of Penal Code section 396 (b), (c) for Los Angeles County until January 7, 2026; tasks various government agencies (HCD, DGS, Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, and Office of Emergency Services) with providing the Governor with continuing reports identifying other state permitting requirements posing barriers to rebuilding that should be considered for suspension; tasks other agencies (DGS, State Fire Marshal, and California Emergency Commission) with proposing recommendations for suspension of California Building Code provisions to facilitate the rebuilding; and requires HCD to coordinate with local governments to identify and recommend expedited local government permitting procedures to facilitate a rapid rebuilding and recovery effort.
Questions? Please contact Arthur F. Coon of Miller Starr Regalia. Miller Starr Regalia has had a well-established reputation as a leading real estate law firm for more than fifty years. For nearly all that time, the firm also has written Miller & Starr, California Real Estate 4th, a 12-volume treatise on California real estate law. “The Book” is the most widely used and judicially recognized real estate treatise in California and is cited by practicing attorneys and courts throughout the state. The firm has expertise in all real property matters, including full-service litigation and dispute resolution services, transactions, acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, financing, common interest development, construction, management, eminent domain and inverse condemnation, title insurance, environmental law and land use. For more information, visit www.msrlegal.com.