Republicans rip California’s wildfire ‘overregulation’ while Gavin Newsom seeks help for victims
As Gov. Gavin Newsom roamed Capitol Hill urging lawmakers to provide more aid to Southern California wildfire victims, congressional Republicans held a hearing Thursday where they insisted California Democrats, including Newsom, shouldered much of the blame for the devastating blazes.
“Climate change and global warming are the scapegoats for the Democrats and radical environmentalists to deflect attention from their failed policies and the destruction caused by their own actions ,” said Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-San Marcos, told the hearing’s witnesses that they showed him how “this was preventable. The problem was your government.”
The Republican-led House Judiciary Subcommittee called the hearing, titled “California fires and the consequences of overregulation.”
The late morning hearing coincided with private visits around the Capitol by Newsom both Wednesday and Thursday. He’s urging lawmakers to approve more disaster aid for victims of the fires, which have killed at least 29 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing from their homes.
‘Counterproductive’ officials
Subcommittee Republicans set the tone early.
“California leaders have insisted and instead prioritized often counterproductive goals like planting trees, installing electric vehicle charging stations over equipping their communities and first responders with the tools they need to protect their citizens and livelihoods,” said Chairman Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wisconsin.
As he introduced witnesses, Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Roseville, cited what he called “titanic policy blunders and staggering failures of political leadership that have caused such harm to California.”
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, the subcommittee’s top Democrat, fired back.
“Republicans are exploiting this crisis with a hearing that does nothing more than provide a sad excuse to further their long-held goal of dismantling the regulations that keep us safe,” he said.
Newsom has been trying to cool the political rhetoric and respond more conciliatory, visiting both Democrats and Republicans. He met with President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
But the back-and-forth between Republicans and Democrats at the hearing was often intense, and most of the testimony reflected what witnesses saw as flaws in California’s fire prevention policies.
“While no amount of preventive measures or properly applied firefighting resources can stop all of the wildfires in our state, their frequency and severity is a consequence of overregulation,” said Edward Ring, director of energy and water policy for the California Policy Center, a nonpartisan public policy research institute.
“The regulations most damaging to our forests are, ironically, justified by misguided environmentalist values,” he said.
Democrats protest
Democrats weren’t buying any of that.
“The entire framing of this hearing is actually based on a false premise,” said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles. “Instead of blaming California for overregulation, we should be discussing ways to help.”
Republicans around the country have long complained that governments too often make it harder to combat natural disasters because of regulations. They and some witnesses reinforced the point Thursday.
Ring offered 38 ideas for easing regulation. Among them: Repeal the California Environmental Quality Act or “limit standing for lawsuits to elected law enforcement officials, and waive (the act) for housing, manufacturing and other employment projects, forest management, and infrastructure/utility and public service projects.”
The act’s web page says it “requires public agencies to ‘look before they leap’ and consider the environmental consequences of their discretionary actions.”
One of the witnesses, Frank Fievalt, director of the California-based Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Institute, did see California as implementing helpful policies. The institute works to create fire-resilient communities.
“Looking only for fault misses the positive changes in policy already made,” he said. “The California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force has been evolving its investments because they realize just counting acres treated isn’t enough to get the outcomes we need.”
Fievalt noted that Cal Fire “discussed recently in the media where and exactly how extreme events are outpacing its current model capabilities, they know they have to evolve.”
Remember, said Rep. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, California is hardly unique as a victim of natural disasters. “This is not a California crisis. This is a national crisis,” he said. “We’re California. Everybody likes to bash us.”
Furthermore, Correa said, “We do learn from every disaster in California.”
After the hearing, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, found the three-hour session largely that “Republicans are trying to say wildfires are the Democrats’ fault. It’s ridiculous.”
Kiley, the Roseville Republican, had a different take. He cited Ring’s list of solutions, and maintained the hearing “cast a much-needed light on some longstanding policy failures in California.”
(Editors note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the party affiliation for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-San Marcos.)
This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 1:12 PM with the headline "Republicans rip California’s wildfire ‘overregulation’ while Gavin Newsom seeks help for victims."
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified Rep. Darrell Issa’s political party. He is a Republican.
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