President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing FEMA and the Small Business Administration to consider rules that would override state and local pre-approval permitting steps for federally funded rebuilding in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon burn areas, while ordering an audit of California’s unspent Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 23 directing the federal government to accelerate rebuilding in Los Angeles County neighborhoods hit by the January 2025 Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon wildfires.
The order instructs the Department of Homeland Security, acting through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Small Business Administration (SBA) to consider issuing regulations that would preempt certain state and local permitting and other pre-approval requirements for homeowners, businesses and houses of worship using federal emergency-relief funds. Under the framework described in the order and a White House fact sheet released Jan. 27, builders would instead be required to self-certify to a federal designee that they have met applicable state and local substantive health, safety and building standards.
In the White House fact sheet, the administration blamed what it called duplicative and inconsistent permitting requirements for slowing recovery. The fact sheet said that, despite billions of dollars in federal recovery assistance and what it described as record-setting federal debris removal, only about 2,500 of the structures destroyed had received permits to rebuild and fewer than 10 homes had been rebuilt a year after the fires.
Trump told the New York Post that he wanted to override local obstacles to speed permits. The Daily Wire also reported that Trump said he planned to put Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin in charge of the effort after praising the pace of federal cleanup work.
Federal agencies and California officials have previously highlighted the speed of the EPA’s Phase 1 hazardous-material removal after the fires, with the EPA saying the work was completed in under 30 days and describing it as the largest wildfire hazardous-waste cleanup in the agency’s history.
The order also directs FEMA to determine whether any of California’s nearly $3 billion in unspent Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds were awarded arbitrarily or contrary to law and to conduct a broader audit of the state’s use of HMGP money.
Trump’s action comes amid an ongoing debate over how quickly rebuilding is moving. The administration’s materials portray progress as stalled, while local reporting has shown a range of figures at different points in the recovery—reflecting differences in jurisdictions, definitions and timing. NBC Los Angeles reported in July 2025 that unincorporated Los Angeles County had received 1,207 rebuild applications but issued 90 permits, and that the city of Los Angeles had received applications for 360 addresses with 70 permits issued. Other later reporting has described permit approvals increasing over time and the first completed rebuilt structures beginning to receive certificates of occupancy by late 2025.
Some residents quoted by the Daily Wire expressed frustration with the pace and cost of rebuilding. Others voiced support for a larger federal role, as Trump’s administration argues that preempting certain local procedural steps could speed reconstruction.
The executive order is one of several recent moves by the administration tied to California wildfire recovery and related policy disputes, including renewed political arguments over water management. Independent reporting has previously challenged Trump’s broader claims about “opening” water supplies as a wildfire solution, noting coordination limits and potential downstream impacts.
