Summary:
Fire victims of Los Angeles County based fires have been illegally extorted into paying for public infrastructure upgrades as a rebuilding and certificate of occupancy requirement.

If Cities and Fire Departments would like to continue to exploit and extort fire victims through exactions, we demand payment through profit sharing and municipal revenue.

This is a united petition to support all survivors of 2025 Palisades, 2025 Eaton, 2024 Franklin, 2018 Woolsey, and more.

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Target:
Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles Mayor, Los Angeles City Council, LADWP Board of Water and Power Commissioners, CPUC, and Regional Fire Authorities (LAFD / LACoFD)

Title:
Stop Unlawful Exactions: End Certificate of Occupancy Hostage Tactics & Compensate Fire Victims for Forced Grid Upgrades

The Violation of Law: Unlawful Infrastructure Exactions
Forcing disaster victims to fund off-site, system-wide infrastructure upgrades as a mandatory condition for receiving a Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) or building permit is a clear violation of constitutional property rights and California statutory law.

Under established constitutional law, municipal agencies and utilities cannot demand unconstitutional exactions:

1. Unconstitutional Exactions & Takings (U.S. Constitution, 5th & 14th Amendments; CA Constitution, Art. I, § 19): Under the Nollan/Dolan doctrine (Nollan v. California Coastal Comm'n, 483 U.S. 825; Dolan v. City of Tigard, 512 U.S. 374), any condition attached to a building permit must have an "essential nexus" and "rough proportionality" to the specific impact of the project. Requiring a fire survivor who is simply replacing a pre-existing destroyed structure to pay for broad public grid upgrades violates both requirements.
2. Monetary Exactions & Permit Denials (Koontz v. St. Johns River WMD, 570 U.S. 595): The Supreme Court explicitly held that government agencies cannot evade constitutional limits by demanding money instead of land, nor by withholding permit approvals/CofOs until property owners submit to extortionate financial demands. 
3. No Legislative Exception (Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, 601 U.S. 267): Public entities cannot defend these fees by pointing to pre-set ordinances or utility schedules. Sheetz confirms that legislatively enacted impact fees and upgrade requirements are strictly subject to the Nollan/Dolan test.
4. California Mitigation Fee Act (Gov. Code § 66000 et seq.): California law prohibits public entities from imposing fees or infrastructure costs that exceed the direct cost of serving the specific parcel. Replacing a home destroyed by fire creates zero net increase in utility demand or infrastructure impact compared to pre-fire conditions, making forced system upgrades an illegal, unproportional fee.

Despite these clear legal limits, entities including LADWP, Southern California Edison (SCE), LAFD, LACoFD, and local building departments are actively withholding Certificates of Occupancy and building approvals from fire survivors. By holding home completion hostage until victims pay for municipal and utility grid modernizations, these agencies are exploiting disaster survivors to cover their own deferred maintenance and capital expansion backlogs.

Examples of Coerced Infrastructure Exactions Taken from Fire Victims
To regain occupation of their own land, rebuilding fire victims across LA County are being forced to pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for public infrastructure modernizations, including:

• Utility Pole Relocation & Undergrounding (SCE & LADWP):
  Forcing property owners to fund the removal, undergrounding, or vaulting of main power poles and transformer banks owned by SCE or LADWP that service the broader street or surrounding neighborhood.
• Fire Hydrant Upgrades & Installation (LAFD / LACoFD):
  Requiring individual rebuilding victims to install new commercial-grade fire hydrants or upgrade existing municipal fire hydrants down the street to meet modern flow standards before issuing building clearances.
• Municipal Water System Overhauls:
  Coercing owners into funding off-site water main expansions, pressure-reducing station upgrades, or public water line extensions to correct pre-existing municipal water pressure deficiencies.
• Gas Grid & Main Line Upgrades:
  Demanding that property owners fund system-level gas main replacements, valve upgrades, and street-level distribution improvements prior to restoring baseline gas service.
• Public Roadway, Curb, and Sidewalk Reconstruction:
  Forcing fire survivors to replace, pave, or install brand-new public sidewalks, street curbs, gutters, and public roadway segments damaged by municipal fire response or pre-existing city deterioration.
• Sewer System Repairs & Capacity Upgrades:
  Conditioning building permits on private property owners repairing, expanding, or upgrading public sewer mains, manholes, and municipal waste infrastructure beyond their private lateral connections.

The Demands
We demand an immediate end to these predatory permit delays and the implementation of a full financial compensation and revenue-sharing framework for fire victims who have fronted funds for public infrastructure:

1. Immediate Cessation of CofO Hostage Tactics: Pass emergency city and county ordinances prohibiting LADWP, SCE, LAFD, and LACoFD from withholding Certificates of Occupancy, final utility connections, or building approvals due to off-site, grid-level, or system-wide infrastructure upgrade requirements.
2. Municipal Revenue & Share-Based Financial Restitution:
   • For Public Utilities (LADWP): Enact a mandatory waiver and payout mechanism funded directly from LADWP’s annual Municipal Revenue Transfer to the City General Fund. Any funds illegally extorted from fire survivors for utility line extensions or capacity upgrades must be returned immediately with interest.
   • For Investor-Owned Utilities (SCE): Force utility entities to issue direct cash reimbursements, equity/share-based compensation, or structured revenue-sharing options to property owners whose private capital was coerced to expand utility grid capacity.
3. Pro-Rata Profit & Revenue Sharing for Forced Capital Costs: Establish an automatic Capital Reimbursement & Revenue Distribution Framework. If a rebuilding fire survivor paid out-of-pocket for infrastructure that enables future connections, neighborhood expansion, or increased utility capacity, that survivor must receive:
   • 100% reimbursement collected pro-rata from every subsequent property connecting to that infrastructure.
   • A structured percentage share of the ongoing utility service revenues generated by the expanded infrastructure capacity they personally financed.

Why This Matters
A home rebuilding permit should never be used as a bargaining chip to force disaster victims into paying for public infrastructure upgrades. Public utilities and fire departments exist to protect and serve the community, not to exploit families recovering from catastrophic loss to modernize municipal assets.

The City of Los Angeles, county agencies, and utility operators must comply with the law, release held-hostage Certificates of Occupancy immediately, and compensate fire survivors for every dollar coerced out of them to fund public grid upgrades.

Sign the Petition
Demand that local leadership and utility regulators end illegal infrastructure exactions, release all withheld Certificates of Occupancy, and grant full financial restitution and revenue sharing to fire victims!