Once hailed as the land of opportunity and innovation, California is now becoming a cautionary tale of what happens when bureaucratic overreach collides with daily life. Excessive environmental regulation, high taxes, and a hostile business climate have turned the Golden State into a place where even essential services can no longer function, and where residents and companies alike are fleeing in droves.
California's government has long tested the limits of how much regulation an economy can endure. But the experiment has gone too far. The state now boasts over 395,000 regulations, the eighth-highest corporate tax rate in the nation at 8.84%, and the highest LLC fee in the U.S. These burdens have made it nearly impossible for businesses to thrive. Between 2018 and 2021, 352 companies—including eleven Fortune 1000 firms like Tesla, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise—moved their headquarters to more business-friendly states like Texas and Florida. That number jumped as pandemic-era policies accelerated the exodus.
But it isn’t just corporations that are packing their bags. California’s high cost of living, fueled by these regulatory mandates, has made it increasingly difficult for everyday residents to justify staying. With housing costs at 97% above the national average and the overall cost of living 38% higher, Californians are asking themselves if the juice is really worth the squeeze.
Even more troubling is the fact that California's overregulation has started to cripple critical municipal services.
Many folks are already aware of the state’s ongoing water issues, but the case of the Chiquita Canyon landfill in Los Angeles County is another prime example. On New Years Day, its operators were forced to abruptly cease operations “due to the current regulatory environment.” The primary constraints, as they put it, had to do with the county reneging on a 2022 agreement to keep the landfill open and the imposition of administrative hurdles that made it impossible to continue operations.
Admittedly, there has been an ongoing rare Elevated Temperature Landfill (ETLF) event impacting the communities surrounding Chiquita Canyon with noxious odors that may have given regulators pause in moving forward with the necessary approvals. But the ETLF occurred even though the property was managed according to all state and federal guidelines. It is also happening in an inactive part of the landfill that is far from ongoing operations, and its operator has taken all necessary steps to mitigate the situation both within the landfill and for the surrounding communities.
This wasn’t just another business closure. Chiquita Canyon handled over 6,000 tons – nearly a quarter – of the daily waste generated in Los Angeles County. Its shutdown has disrupted waste disposal across the region, triggered rising costs, and left communities scrambling for alternatives. Ironically, redirecting waste to other facilities or trucking it long distances will result in more pollution—the very outcome California's regulators claim to be preventing. Meanwhile, the $25 million in community relief funds that the landfill operator had distributed to support nearby residents dealing with the impacts of the ETLF has dried up along with the revenue stream from disposal fees at the facility that sustained it.
The problem isn’t just overregulation but the disjointed, overlapping agencies that enforce them. In the Chiquita Canyon case alone, operators have had to navigate mandates from the South Coast AQMD, Los Angeles County Public Works, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and more. This regulatory thicket is unmanageable and unnecessary.
Thankfully, help is on the way. With President Trump returning to the White House, there is renewed hope for restoring common sense to California. His administration’s proven success in cutting through red tape—like during the recent wildfire cleanup efforts in Los Angeles—offers a blueprint. Despite skepticism, Trump’s executive order to complete Phase 1 of the wildfire debris cleanup in just 30 days was met, earning praise from California officials and contradicting the skeptics who estimated it could take anywhere from three months to more than a year.
Now, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have an opportunity to bring that same leadership to the chaos California’s overregulation is wreaking upon crucial municipal services like Chiquta Canyon. Streamlining the regulatory process, creating a special task force for landfill cleanup, and asserting federal oversight through Multi-Agency Critical Action Teams (MCATs) could untangle the bureaucratic mess and ensure environmental protection and oversight in the state does not come at the cost of economic collapse.
Even California Governor Gavin Newsom, once a champion of progressive environmentalism, seems to be reconsidering. His decision to recently host leading MAGA voices on his Podcast suggests an openness to ideas once dismissed out of hand. That shift, subtle though it may be, signals that even California's leadership may understand the need for a course correction.
The Trump Administration should seize this moment. California's crisis is not isolated—it is a preview of what could spread to other states if left unchecked. By reining in runaway regulation and restoring a balance between environmental stewardship and economic feasibility, President Trump, Administrator Zeldin, and DOGE can help California recover its promise.
John T. Doolittle is a former member of Congress (CA-4) and served as the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Water and Power, Committee on Natural Resources and on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and on the Appropriations Committee.