Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
LOS ANGELES — L.A. Mayor Karen Bass didn't break California state law when she seized a raft of temporary executive powers by declaring a "homelessness emergency," a state appeals court has ruled.
On Feb. 27, a three-justice panel of the California Second District Court of Appeal sided with Bass in the action challenging her emergency powers brought by Fix the City, an activist group which regularly challenges governmental actions in L.A. and California which they assert violate the law.
In the ruling, the Second District justices specifically rejected Fix the City's contentions that Bass's use of emergency powers under an L.A. city ordinance should not be allowed under the California Emergency Services Act (CESA).
The provision in question, referred to as Section 8.33, grants the mayor the power to declare an "emergency" related to homelessness and housing in Los Angeles. The provision was approved by the L.A. city council on July 5, 2023, at Bass's behest.
Section 8.33 defines an "emergency" as a time in which L.A.'s homeless population is more than double the number of available temporary housing beds, or if the city's homeless population has increased by more than 20% in the prior year.
Further, an emergency can be declared if the city determines that the housing supply in L.A. will be 40% or more below the city's targeted rate of housing growth.
Bass declared the first such "emergency" two days later, on July 7, 2023.
Under the "emergency" declaration, Bass was empowered to exercise a range of special, temporary powers, including suspending competitive bidding and the usual procedures for approving certain "affordable" housing developments, among others.
According to published reports, Bass used the emergency powers to use city funds to pay certain hotels and motels to house homeless people and to push through preferred housing projects, among other actions.
The emergency declaration remained in place until November 2025.
However, during that time, the emergency declaration was challenged by Fix the City. In their lawsuit, the group asserted Bass and the city of Los Angeles lacked the constitutional authority to enact Section 8.33 and to take actions like those executed by Bass.
The lawsuit asserted California state law doesn't allow cities, like L.A., to make up their own criteria for declaring an "emergency" over ongoing concerns like homelessness and housing, which they said are "chronic conditions which have plagued the city for decades."
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge tossed the suit in 2024.
And now on appeal, a state appeals panel also has ruled that the CESA law should not be read to preclude a city like L.A. from using its constitutional powers as a charter city to set and define their own terms for "emergencies" not covered by CESA.
The appellate opinion was authored by Justice Gregory Weingart. Justices Frances Rothschild and Helen Bendix concurred.
CESA, the justices said, essentially establishes a guide for how the state will assist local governments in responding to certain kinds of emergencies, caused by natural disasters or manmade events, like wars or social upheaval, among others, that are beyond the ability of the city to handle on their own.
And they said the law specifically refuses to limit the ability of cities to declare emergencies related to other causes not spelled out in the law.
Nothing in CESA "evinces any legislative intent to restrict local entities from legislating responses to types of emergencies not addressed in CESA, to impose conditions or limitations on actions taken by a political subdivision to address disasters within its territory, or to make emergencies solely a state responsibility," Weingart wrote.
Fix the City has been represented in the case by attorneys Robert P. Silverstein and James S. Link, of the Silverstein Law Firm, of Pasadena. The firm has ceased operations following the death in November 2025 of Silverstein, its principal.
The city has been represented by attorneys from L.A. City Attorney's Office.
