Although California has reduced its funding request following delays under the Trump administration, state leaders are arguing that certain critical risk priorities, including long-term landslide-hazard mapping and modeling, still urgently require federal support.
In a revised submission to Congress last week, Governor Gavin Newsom states that California is now “decreasing its request by $5,736,770,000… to $33,943,967,878 based on work that has already been paid out during the cleanup process.” The state says record-speed debris removal has enabled a faster transition into long-term rebuilding, but warns that “complete recovery is not possible without essential federal aid.”
Newsom met with federal lawmakers last week renewing calls for federal aid for Los Angeles fire recovery, however Federal Emergency Management Agency refused a meeting, according to reports.
A major component of the disaster-risk strategy is post-fire landslide assessment. The letter cautions that “landslide impacts have already occurred to homes and infrastructure, and threats will remain for the next five years within and downstream of the burned watersheds.” To address this hazard, California is requesting $2 million for the U.S. Geological Survey to conduct “landslide hazard mapping, assessments, monitoring, planning and communication, and to develop an early warning system aimed at protecting lives and property.”
The funding request also underscores the economic and social scale of the catastrophe. The January 2025 fires destroyed 16,251 structures — a figure that could rise as damage assessments continue. At their peak, the fires “closed over 1,000 schools… and affected almost 700,000 students,” while 22 schools were identified as damaged or destroyed. California stresses the need for additional Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds to rebuild “destroyed homes… businesses, communities, and… vital infrastructure,” incorporating resilience measures “to reduce the risk and impacts of future disasters.”
The state further asks for $350 million to restore federal lands and reduce future wildfire severity through vegetation and fuels-treatment programs — highlighting a nearly 165,000-acre deficit in current federal wildfire-mitigation funding priorities.
