California's Inferno of Regulations

John Stossel
Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:49:02 -0800
Opinion

Last year, California wildfires destroyed 13,000 homes.
Updated: Wed Mar 04, 2026

Last year, California wildfires destroyed 13,000 homes.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced: "We are 100% committed to getting this neighborhood rebuilt again!"

Gov. Gavin Newsom echoed that, saying his officials were "responding to it at scale, with efficiency ... addressing building codes, permitting issues, and moving forward to rebuilding."

Great! It sounded like bureaucrats would get out of the way and let fire victims rebuild quickly.

But no. Not when government bureaucrats are in control.

More than a year later, fewer than 30 of the 13,000 destroyed homes have been rebuilt.

My new video explains why:

Jim Cragg, who saved his house by putting sprinklers on his roof, blames California's red tape.

Now he runs a volunteer group helping people navigate life after the fire. He's frustrated that it still takes months just to get permission to rebuild.

Also, those who do get permits and start rebuilding sometimes get stopped.

"You start building on that house and, oops! There's a permit issue," Cragg says. "Do you shut down for five days? All those trucks are waiting, all that lumber is waiting. There's 6,000 houses waiting behind you."

Bass claims her office simplified things for homeowners: "We have waived, put aside, suspended, so we can get through the permitting process in record speed!"

"Record speed" must not mean much to politicians.

Fire victims must complete a mountain of paperwork before they can get permission to rebuild.

The "Green Building Code" alone has countless rules. The flush volume of water closets must not exceed 1.28 gallons, builders must submit a construction waste management plan, garages must be wired for electric cars, finished buildings must include educational material on positive impacts of humidity and information about California solar energy programs ...

It's a good thing there's a digital version of these requirements. Printing it would probably violate California's environmental rules.

"Thousands of people are traumatized," points out Cragg, "and they're being handed (those forms) and told, 'Learn this, figure it out, master this. By the way, if you mess up on this, you may end up losing ... $100,000.' It's scary."

The paperwork is so overwhelming that most homeowners haven't even applied for permits.

"Financially, it doesn't make sense to try," says Cragg. "This is something that could ruin your family even worse than what just happened in the fire."

Yet his mayor still insists, "This is actually pretty quick."

"It doesn't feel pretty quick for that family that's living in a hotel," says Cragg.

As usual, government causes more problems than it solves.

The fire itself was probably exacerbated by California's strict environmental rules.

Residents say Los Angeles County wouldn't let firefighters use heavy machinery in areas with "protected plants."

Also, before the fire, officials drained a 117-million-gallon reservoir to repair its cover.

As a result, says Cragg, "Fire hydrants ... some worked, most didn't ... The reservoir was empty."

One reason it stayed empty was because California officials took months just to schedule its repair.

Everything government does costs more and takes longer.

If all the bureaucracy isn't bad enough, the owners of empty lots are told they still must pay property tax.

But the politicians say they're giving them a break. You only need to pay taxes on the lot, which comes out to two-thirds of what they used to pay.

"It's a slap in the face!" complains Cragg.

Last year, Bass admitted: "There is dysfunctional levels of government everywhere. It isn't anything particular to Los Angeles."

She's right about that.

But I think Los Angeles is probably worse than most places.

"The Pacific Palisades is a war zone," says Cragg. "We need a war fighter mentality there. We don't need committees. We need a decision now. We need leadership and rebuilding now."

In California? Don't count on it.