Fix the City, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles

INTRODUCTION

Section 8.33 of the City of Los Angeles Administrative Code (section 8.33) confers various mayoral powers upon the declaration of “a local housing and/or homelessness emergency.” (Id., subd. (b).) On July 7, 2023, City of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared such an emergency. The Los Angeles City Council (City Council) thereafter renewed the state of emergency and Mayor Bass exercised the powers granted to her to take action regarding unhoused city residents. On November 4, 2025, while this appeal was pending, the mayor lifted the emergency declaration and it is no longer in force. Appellant Fix the City, Inc. (Fix the City) claims section 8.33 is invalid, such that the City of Los Angeles (City) and the City Council acted illegally during the time the emergency declaration was in place. Fix the City asserts that the California Emergency Services Act (CESA; Gov. Code,1 § 8550 et seq.) as well as another provision of the City’s administrative code preempted section 8.33, rendering it null and void. We conclude CESA and section 8.33 do not conflict and that CESA does not otherwise preempt section 8.33. We also conclude other provisions of the City’s administrative…