California’s overregulation crisis: A barrier to rebuilding and Black economic resilience

Rebuilding efforts after this year’s devastating wildfires offer a window not only into our communities’ loss, but also into the larger crisis facing California – layers of red tape keeping hardworking Californians stuck instead of moving forward.

Today, as families across the state work to stitch their lives back together, they’re often stalled, not by lack of resources or will, but by over-burdensome and costly permitting and compliance processes. This isn’t just a political issue – for us at the California African American Chamber of Commerce, it’s personal. While it’s a problem that impacts all of us, the consequences of overregulation fall hardest on Black families, homeowners, and small business owners – those who have already fought for a place in California’s economy for so long.

Take Altadena for example. In the aftermath of the Eaton fire that ripped through the hills, nearly 9,000 buildings were destroyed, most of them modest, single-family homes where communities had built their lives for generations. Folks didn’t wait around, they acted swiftly, submitting hundreds of rebuilding applications. Yet, as of early June, only 14 permits had been approved, leaving more than 600 applications in the “received” stage. For the first three months after the disaster, not a single permit was issued.

According to a recent study by UCLA, nearly half of all Black households in Altadena lost their homes or saw them severely damaged – compared to only 37% of non-Black households in the same area. For Black families, these homes aren’t just buildings, they represent communal history and the hope of passing something down. Unfortunately, delays in rebuilding due to strict permitting requirements have set them back significantly in the rebuilding process.

If nothing else, these fires serve as a wake-up call for our legislators that California’s mountains of red tape need to be cleared. At the end of June, Governor Gavin Newsom listened and made the decision to pass a state budget-related housing bill that would overhaul significant portions of the California Environmental Equity Act (CEQA) to ease California’s building landscape. 

More must be done, because this system of overregulation doesn’t only occur in rebuilding situations, it’s something Black-owned small businesses face every day across a wide range of industries. The businesses and entrepreneurs we represent face a dense forest of licenses, inspections, zoning requirements, and compliance rules – often duplicative or contradictory – that make it hard to open or grow a business. With over 420,000 restrictions, more than triple the national average of 136,000, California has serious bureaucratic morass to wade through.

At the California African American Chamber of Commerce, we of course do not oppose all regulation. Rules that ensure safety, fairness, and environmental responsibility are essential, but regulation without efficiency becomes a burden. 

If we are serious about economic justice, housing equity, and community resilience, we must prioritize reform. That means faster permitting timelines and more dedicated pathways for rebuilding in the wake of disaster – particularly in our most overlooked neighborhoods. It also means empowering local chambers, community-based organizations, and their members with more tools that help navigate red tape, such as Archistar, an AI software that accelerates the approval process for building permits in Los Angeles City and County, or the One-Stop Permit Centers in the Palisades and Eaton fire areas that were made available through Los Angeles City and County Recovery. 

The implementation of these resources in the wake of the recent fires indicates that lawmakers see the public need for resources to escape regulatory entanglement. We need to continue the dialogue. 

California can no longer afford to treat overregulation as just an inconvenience. For too many, it’s a barrier to survival. Let’s cut through the red tape – before we lose more than just buildings. We’re at risk of losing the people and communities that make California the state it is.

Ahmad Holmes is the president & CEO of the California African American Chamber of Commerce (CAACC).