Quick Take
California lawmakers and Coastal Commission officials are taking the Trump administration’s threats seriously, as federal pressure to overhaul the agency could affect Los Angeles wildfire aid. With tensions rising, officials are mobilizing to protect the state’s coastal policies from political interference.
In the past few weeks alone, the Trump administration has cut off aid to Ukraine, stripped Columbia University of $400 million in federal funding, pressured Mexico and Canada with new tariffs, and named President Donald Trump as the new chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
So, as the president and his staff have used the Los Angeles wildfires to levy attacks against the California Coastal Commission, threatening to condition federal disaster aid on an overhaul or defunding of the state land-use agency, few if any have dismissed it as hollow rhetoric.
“It’s just really disappointing, but we’re taking it extremely seriously,” said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Justin Cummings, who also chairs the Coastal Commission’s 12-member voting panel. “We’re trying to rally our supporters at the state and federal level to get them to understand that this is a nonstarter.”
During Trump’s visit to Los Angeles in January, he blasted the Coastal Commission’s permitting process, saying the agency was “considered the most difficult in the entire country.” He called it “out of control” and said he “wasn’t going to let them get away with their antics.” Trump’s comments drew the loudest clap from Richard Grenell, the president’s special envoy and himself a Californian. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference a few weeks later, Grenell told Politico that the Trump administration would attach strings to the Los Angeles disaster aid that could target the Coastal Commission, which he called a “disaster” and “crazy woke left.”
According to state lawmakers and people on and within the Coastal Commission, the Trump administration’s comments have struck a particularly worrisome chord. Criticism of the commission from Trump and Republican members of Congress adds weight to an already heightened pressure from state housing advocates and the building industry to relax coastal development restrictions. There is also widespread concern that Trump, whose two-month resumé already includes a laundry list of previously unthinkable actions and orders, might not be bluffing.
One Coastal Commission staffer told Lookout that what might have once sounded like “stupid bluster” registers as a real threat under this new Trump Administration.
“We’re all very nervous right now,” the staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak with the media, said. “I want to think that it would be outlandish and that no one thinks it is a serious proposal but the world is upside down and Trump is doing a lot of stuff.”
Trump’s government does not have much by way of financial leverage on the Coastal Commission, thus cannot directly defund it. About $3.7 million of the Coastal Commission’s $48.3 million budget this year comes from federal sources. In December, California Gov. Gavin Newsom secured a $250 million federal grant to address a sewage crisis in San Diego County, a project in which the Coastal Commission has actively participated.
Thus, conditions on federal disaster aid represent the most likely, if any, path for the Trump administration to influence change at the Coastal Commission. As congressional budget talks approach their deadline and Californians await any news on whether Trump will meet Newsom’s request for $40 billion in disaster aid, the Coastal Commission finds itself in part wait-and-see mode, part urgent search for statewide allies to help diffuse the federal-level pressure.
Yet, the roster of policymakers and influencers within California who wish to preserve the Coastal Commission as it is has steadily declined as statewide housing pressures have taken center stage.
Over the past decade, boosting housing supply has become the state’s marquee political issue, and knocking down regulatory hurdles has been a popular legislative strategy. To a growing number of lawmakers, advocates and industry reps, the Coastal Commission — whose mandate to protect the public’s coastal access often runs counter to efforts to privatize oceanfront property and construct large multifamily housing developments — has become both an easy target and, as one commission staffer told Lookout, “the great white whale.”
This session is no different. Several bills, proposed by both Republicans and Democrats, try to chip away at the commission’s ability to protect the coast. Senate Bill 741, from Orange County state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, proposes allowing cities and counties to skip the commission’s coastal development permit process if they declare their own disasters (right now, the governor has to declare the disaster); Assemblymember David Alvarez’s Assembly Bill 357 seeks to exempt student and faculty housing projects from coastal development permits.
Then there’s AB 10, proposed by Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli, which touches on a direct sore point between the Coastal Commission and Trump administration. Essayli’s bill attempts to bar the commission from blocking any more SpaceX rocket launches at the Vandenberg Space Force Base. In November, the commission denied the Space Force’s request to increase the number of rocket launches by the Elon Musk-owned SpaceX. Musk has been perhaps the most profile figure in the Trump administration outside the president himself.
Congress has also entered the ring. Last week, U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) proposed the Coastal Commission Accountability Act. The bill attempts to amend the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, which allows coastal states to review and determine whether federal activities align with state coastal management policies. The bill would “expedite important coastal activities, including national security initiatives, critical infrastructure development, and disaster mitigation and recovery efforts,” according to a statement from Kiley’s office.
“The need to rein in the commission has become urgent as we face the challenge of rebuilding Los Angeles following the fires,” the statement read.
Newsom has taken his own swipes at the Coastal Commission in recent weeks. In a post-wildfire spat with the commission, the governor criticized its “legally erroneous guidance” regarding rebuild permits for fire victims. Then, without coordinating with the state agency, Newsom issued an executive order that blocked the Coastal Commission from doing anything that would conflict with his own wildfire rebuild orders. As the commission staffer told Lookout, “I’m sure Newsom’s orders made Trump happy.”
State Sen. John Laird said Newsom’s orders “signal that the governor is hearing things about the Coastal Commission,” but didn’t think they were necessary, since the commission already exempts disaster victims who want to rebuild their home from needing coastal development permits.
Laird acknowledged that the push for housing development along California’s coast has turned up the political pressure on the Coastal Commission, and the Los Angeles wildfires only exacerbated the heat. However, he called the Trump administration’s idea of conditioning disaster aid on a commission overhaul “outrageous” and said California lawmakers “should call their bluff and not back down.”
“The challenge has grown, and the rhetoric from D.C. may embolden those interests who have raised attacks against the Coastal Commission,” Laird said. “But I think it could also rally the Californians who don’t want outside development interests shaping coastal policy.”
Cummings said his colleagues on the Coastal Commission board have been leaning on their networks to build a coalition of support. According to Cummings, Commissioner Caryl Hart was in Washington during Trump’s address to Congress earlier this month, trying to work her federal-level relationships. However, Cummings said they’re doing all this while trying to keep a low profile and not attract too much unnecessary attention.
“We’ve been leaning on our supporters to carry the message, because it shouldn’t come from the commission, but from the people who benefit from our work protecting the coast,” Cummings said. “The Coastal Commission cannot come at this alone.”
Some nonprofits, such as the Surfrider Foundation, have released public statements in support of the commission and its work. In a Feb. 22 statement, Surfrider Foundation Associate Director Jennifer Savage pointed out that the commission “has long been the favorite target” of developers and private property owners who resent the strict land-use regulations.
“Without the Coastal Act and the Coastal Commission to enforce it, many of California’s beaches would become essentially privatized,” the statement reads. “People escaping inland heat waves would have no recourse when confronted with gates and other blockades, developers would build without obligation to ensure access and safety. Defunding and dismantling the Coastal Commission would eliminate rights enshrined in California’s constitution.”
Any conditions on wildfire aid would ultimately have to pass Congress, and then would need to be carried out by the state legislature. Central Coast Rep. Jimmy Panetta told Lookout, in an emailed statement Monday, that Congress shouldn’t “use vulnerable communities for political leverage.”
“I have made clear to all of my colleagues that making disaster relief contingent on unrelated conditions is not only abnormal, it is also abhorrent,” the statement read.
It appears Congress might agree. On Friday, California’s entire congressional delegation signed and sent a letter to leaders of both parties, urging them to release disaster funding for the wildfire victims. The letter did not mention any conditions that have been floated by the Trump administration. Just days later, the same bipartisan delegation requested the Federal Emergency Management Agency extend the application deadline for individual assistance to May 9.
“Just as the federal government has come to the aid of communities impacted by wildfires across the western United States, tornadoes in the Midwest, ice storms in Texas, or hurricanes in the Southeast, we should once again support the recovery of the impacted families, businesses and communities in Los Angeles County,” the letter read.
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