In the wake of the tragic disaster still unfolding in multiple communities of Southern California, Governor Newsom has issued an executive order (Executive Order N-4-25) intended to “expedite recovery” from the disaster by “eliminating barriers that unduly delay the rapid rebuilding of homes and other facilities destroyed or damages by the extreme windstorm conditions and resulting fires.” Specifically, the Executive Order “suspends” the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and any requirements to obtain a permit under the California Coastal Act for projects to “repair, demolish, or replace property or facilities substantially damaged or destroyed as a result of this emergency.”
The Executive Order builds on existing exemptions. For example, CEQA already includes a full statutory exemption for projects “undertaken, carried out, or approved by a public agency to maintain, repair, restore, demolish, or replace property or facilities damaged or destroyed as a result of a disaster in a disaster-stricken area in which a state of emergency has been proclaimed.” (Pub. Resources Code, § 21080(b)(3).) Similarly, the Coastal Act also already exempts development involving “the replacement of any structure, other than a public works facility, destroyed by a disaster.” (Pub. Resources Code, § 30610(g).)
The Executive Order affirms and does, in a few instances, slightly broaden the existing exemptions. For instance, the statutory Coastal Act exemption does not apply to public facilities; whereas the Executive Order does include such facilities in its exemption. Additionally, the statutory Coastal Act exemption only applies to a structure “destroyed” by a disaster; whereas the Executive Order more broadly includes “property or facilities substantially damaged or destroyed” as a result of the emergency.
Generally consistent with the existing Coastal Act exemption, the Executive Order only applies to replacement facilities that are in “substantially the same location as, and do not exceed 110% of the footprint and height of, properties and facilities that were legally established and existed immediately before this emergency.”
The Governor’s authority to issue such orders is legislatively granted under the Emergency Services Act—allowing the Governor to make, amend, or suspend law pursuant to the quasi-legislative and suspension powers granted respectively by Sections 8627 and 8571 of the California Government Code. This legislative authority was upheld (in the context of COVID-19 executive orders) last year in Ghost Golf, Inc. v. Newsom (2024) 102 Cal.App.5th 88. The court interpreted the “police power” granted to the Governor by Section 8627 to include the power to legislate in an emergency, thereby upholding restrictions on activities implemented during the pandemic.
The Executive Order also contains other directives for the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to provide a report within 30 days identifying other permitting requirements under state law that should be considered for suspension because they may “unduly impede efforts to rebuild.” The Executive Order also includes a requirement that HCD identify and recommend procedures to expedite permitting and approval processes.
There are a myriad of other categorical or regulatory exemptions that may also serve the recovery effort, including under CEQA Guidelines Section 15301, which provides a categorical exemption for the repair of existing facilities when there is no expansion of use, Section 15302 for the replacement or reconstruction of existing structures that will have substantially the same purpose and capacity as the prior structure, and Section 15303 for limited construction of small new structures. Additionally, Fish and Game Code Section 1610 exempts from streambed alteration permitting “[i]mmediate emergency repairs to public service facilities,” among other types of emergency projects.
In sum, although the Executive Order largely mirrors existing statutory exemptions, it is a welcome boost to rebuilding efforts and should help ensure that those efforts are not hindered by, in the Governor’s words, the many “barriers that unduly delay the rapid rebuilding of homes and other facilities.” It also slightly expands the existing statutory exemptions. That said, the expansions are only “suspended”—thus, there may come a time when rebuilding efforts would need to rely solely on the existing statutory exemptions or further legislative enactments.