Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act: industrial projects and commercial projects: single-family residences: public works projects

Cities may now receive authority to approve tree take for commercial and industrial projects. Homeowners and public agencies gain streamlined, lower-cost routes for limited tree removal or trimming in specified situations.

What the law does ​

• Allows the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to delegate to cities authority to permit western Joshua tree take for commercial and industrial projects, subject to existing delegation conditions.
• Lets owner-occupants pay reduced fees instead of completing mitigation to remove up to 10 trees, or trim trees, near an existing single-family home or qualifying accessory structure.
• Lets public-works proponents pay reduced fees instead of mitigation to remove up to 40 trees, or trim trees, for repairs, rehabilitation, replacement, or maintenance of an existing structure.
• Allows participating cities and counties to issue permits without mitigation for those qualifying homeowner and public-works projects, while charging an administrative fee.
• Requires participating cities and counties to approve or deny these streamlined permit requests within 60 days.
• Exempts qualifying homeowner permits from California Environmental Quality Act review until a specified programmatic environmental impact report is finalized or January 1, 2032, whichever occurs first.
• Delays the deadline for the department to adopt updated tree-take fee regulations from December 31, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

Who it affects ​

• Owner-occupants of existing single-family homes seeking to remove or trim qualifying western Joshua trees.
• Public agencies and other proponents repairing, rehabilitating, replacing, or maintaining existing public-works structures.
• Cities and counties operating under a delegation agreement with the department.
• Commercial and industrial project developers in cities authorized by the department to issue tree-take permits.

Context ​

The law took effect immediately as an urgency statute.