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

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 27, 2026
DocketB339464
StatusPublished

This text of Fix the City, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles (Fix the City, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fix the City, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, (Cal. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

Filed 2/27/26 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

FIX THE CITY, INC., B339464

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County v. Super. Ct. No. 23STCP03519)

CITY OF LOS ANGELES et al.,

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Curtis A. Kin, Judge. Affirmed. The Silverstein Law Firm, Robert P. Silverstein and James S. Link for Plaintiff and Appellant. Hydee Feldstein Soto, City Attorney, Denise C. Mills, Chief Deputy City Attorney, Kathleen A. Kenealy, Chief Assistant City Attorney, Shaun Dabby Jacobs, Assistant City Attorney, Sara Ugaz and Stephen D. Lee, Deputy City Attorneys for Defendants and Respondents City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles City Council. Patterson & O’Neill, Ryan Patterson and Brian O’Neill for Yes In My Back Yard as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles City Council. _________________________

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 On November 4, 2025, while this appeal was pending, the mayor lifted the emergency declaration and it is no longer in force.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 code (LAAC) do not

1 Unspecified statutory references are to the Government Code.

2 invalidate section 8.33. As the trial court denied Fix the City’s requests for a writ vacating the emergency declaration along with any directives, rules, and regulations issued under it, and for declaratory relief that section 8.33 violated CESA and other provisions of the LAAC, we affirm. BACKGROUND We summarize first the pertinent provisions of CESA and the LAAC, then the Mayor’s July 7, 2023 emergency declaration, and lastly the procedural history of Fix the City’s lawsuit. A. CESA In CESA, the Legislature expressed its intent to coordinate the emergency responses of the state, its political subdivisions, the federal government, and “private agencies”; to provide state assistance to its political subdivisions; and to facilitate “the rendering of mutual aid” by the state and political subdivisions “to the end that the most effective use may be made of all manpower, resources, and facilities for dealing with any emergency that may occur.” (§ 8550, subds. (a)-(d).) CESA establishes three “degrees of emergency”: a “ ‘[s]tate of war emergency’ ” (§ 8558, subd. (a)); a “ ‘[s]tate of emergency’ ” (id., subd. (b)); and a “ ‘[l]ocal emergency’ ” (id., subd. (c)). Only the last of these is relevant here. A “ ‘[l]ocal emergency,’ ” as defined by CESA, “may be proclaimed only by the governing body of a city, county, or city and county, or by an official designated by ordinance adopted by that governing body” (§ 8630) based on “conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial limits of a county, city and county, or city, caused by conditions such as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, sudden and

3 severe energy shortage, deenergization event,[2] electromagnetic pulse attack, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor’s warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions . . . which are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of that political subdivision and require the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat” (§ 8558, subd. (c)(1)). During a “local emergency” under CESA “the governing body of a political subdivision, or officials designated thereby, may promulgate orders and regulations necessary to provide for the protection of life and property, including orders or regulations imposing a curfew within designated boundaries where necessary to preserve the public order and safety.” (§ 8634.) Other political subdivisions are provided “full power to provide mutual aid . . . in accordance with local ordinances, resolutions, emergency plans, or agreements therefor” (§ 8631) and state agencies are similarly authorized to “provide mutual aid, including personnel, equipment, and other available resources, to assist political subdivisions during a local emergency” (§ 8632). The state and its political subdivisions are immune from liability for “the exercise or performance, or the failure to exercise or perform, a discretionary function or duty on the part of a state

2 A “ ‘deenergization event’ ” is a “planned power outage . . . to reduce the risk of wildfires caused by utility equipment.” (§ 8557, subd. (h).) Where a “sudden and severe energy shortage” or “deenergization event” involves a “regulated energy utilit[y]” it can be the basis for the proclamation of a “ ‘[l]ocal emergency’ ” if it “requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the Public Utilities Commission.” (§ 8558, subd. (c)(1).)

4 or local agency or any employee of the state or its political subdivisions in carrying out the provisions of [CESA].” (§ 8655.) In addition, a political subdivision’s “officers, agents, [and] employees,” when performing any functions or duties outside of their territory pursuant to CESA, enjoy all “privileges and immunities . . . [and] exemptions from laws, ordinances, and rules[,] . . . and . . . benefits which apply to the[ir] activity” within their territory. (§ 8656.) Although the governing body of a political subdivision may designate an official to initially proclaim a “local emergency” pursuant to CESA, an emergency proclaimed by such an official must be “ratified by the governing body” within seven days. (§ 8630, subd. (b).) In addition, “[t]he governing body shall review the need for continuing the local emergency at least once every 60 days until the governing body terminates the local emergency,” which “shall” be done “at the earliest possible date that conditions warrant.” (Id., subds. (c) & (d).) B. The City’s Authority to Declare a “Local Housing and/or Homelessness Emergency” under its Charter and Administrative Code The City is a charter city. Article XI, section 5, subdivision (a) of the California Constitution provides, “It shall be competent in any city charter to provide that the city governed thereunder may make and enforce all ordinances and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, subject only to restrictions and limitations provided in their several charters and in respect to other matters they shall be subject to general laws. City charters adopted pursuant to this Constitution shall supersede any existing charter, and with respect to municipal affairs shall supersede all laws inconsistent therewith.” This constitutional provision “was

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State Building & Construction Trades Council v. City of Vista
279 P.3d 1022 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
Rider v. City of San Diego
959 P.2d 347 (California Supreme Court, 1998)
Sherwin-Williams Co. v. City of Los Angeles
844 P.2d 534 (California Supreme Court, 1993)
Blank v. Kirwan
703 P.2d 58 (California Supreme Court, 1985)
California Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. City of Los Angeles
812 P.2d 916 (California Supreme Court, 1991)
Davis v. Justice Court
10 Cal. App. 3d 1002 (California Court of Appeal, 1970)
Lopez v. Sony Electronics, Inc.
420 P.3d 767 (California Supreme Court, 2018)
Chun v. Del Cid
246 Cal. Rptr. 3d 488 (California Court of Appeals, 5th District, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Fix the City, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fix-the-city-inc-v-city-of-los-angeles-calctapp-2026.