Check this out, a recent Fourth Branch pod featuring lawprof Donald Kochan and our law firm colleague Jeremy Talcott, “Explainer Episode 85 – Rebuilding California: Lessons from the Pacific Palisades Fire.”
Here’s the description:
The 2025 Pacific Palisades Fire has underscored the challenges of building in California’s complex regulatory landscape. In response, Governor Newsom issued an executive order suspending CEQA and Coastal Act requirements to expedite reconstruction, raising important questions about the future of development in the state. In this podcast, experts Jeremy Talcott and Donald Kochan examine California’s regulatory environment before the disaster and the broader implications of its permitting processes in the effort to rebuild. Join us for an in-depth discussion on balancing efficient recovery with long-term regulatory considerations.
The money quote from Jeremy:
And I think this fire really offers a very good inflection point for a reimagining or a revisiting of the utility of all of these regulatory frameworks that exist in California. If it is good to suspend these regulations temporarily for individuals who have been seeing their homes destroyed and need to quickly rebuild, why are all of these regulations left in place for the thousands and thousands of landowners with empty units that could be put to a beneficial use.
In California, it’s not just building out, that includes building in. There are too many units within existing neighborhoods that are right now being left idle because the regulatory prospects of navigating the hurdles to obtain it development permit are simply too difficult, and I think if we take an honest look at just how difficult it has been in California and continues to be, and perhaps if we also see the outcomes of this temporary suspension, it will force some legislative revisiting of the utility of these laws and whether or not some reform might be in order.
Worth a listen.