As Voters Nationwide Revolt Against Data Centers, California's Prop 45 Would Fast-Track Them and...

SACRAMENTO – Across the nation, voters in both parties are turning against data centers. This November, California voters are being asked instead to fast-track their approval.

At a press briefing today, environmental attorneys, water advocates and community organizers said Proposition 45 on the Nov. 3 ballot could permanently make it easier to build data centers in California. The measure is designed to weaken public oversight of eight categories of projects deemed “essential” by the California Chamber of Commerce, which placed the measure on the ballot. Speakers at the press conference indicated the measure would also override data center protections Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law just last month.

The data center backlash has become one of the defining issues of the 2026 midterms. In November, voters in at least three dozen cities, counties and townships across the country will consider ballot measures that could ban or limit data centers in their communities. A Fox News poll in July found 70% of voters oppose building data centers for the purpose of supporting AI in their area.

California is following the national trend. Monterey Park became the first city in the country to permanently ban data centers. Coachella recently passed a permanent ban, and San Francisco, Oakland, Eureka, Gilroy, Richmond, Oakley and Palm Springs have adopted moratoriums. In San Jose, regulators are reviewing a PG&E deal to power a Google data center that would draw roughly as much electricity as all of Marin County. In September, an Imperial County judge halted what would be California's largest data center, a nearly one-million-square-foot AI facility, citing insufficient environmental review.

Prop 45 would put a thumb on the scale to favor these data center developers. The measure streamlines environmental review and limits legal challenges for what the initiative deems "essential" projects, including broadband internet infrastructure defined to cover any facilities “that are incidental to and enable” internet services, along with ancillary projects such as power plants. The measure's authors wrote an explicit list of projects excluded from its benefits – including nuclear energy, high-speed rail and jails – and data centers aren't on it.

If passed by voters, the measure could undermine new community and environmental protections that were recently signed into law. In September, Governor Newsom signed seven bills that his administration called the most comprehensive data center laws in the nation. One of them makes data centers ineligible for blanket environmental exemptions and requires them to show they won't shift costs to ratepayers in exchange for a streamlined review process.

Because Prop 45 supersedes conflicting laws, developers could claim its benefits without meeting those conditions. If a majority of voters support Prop 45 this November, the law would be almost impossible to amend. Doing so would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or another statewide vote, and any legislative amendments must “further the purposes” of the measure.

Quotes from Press Conference Speakers

Matthew McKerley, attorney at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger and co-author of a Daily Journal legal analysis of the measure, said, "The measure tells judges to read it as broadly as possible in favor of approval. The Legislature just spent a year writing data center safeguards, and Prop 45 could significantly undermine that effort."

"California just told data centers: show us your water use and pay your own way. Prop 45 tells them never mind," said Kelly Shannon McNeill, Managing Director of Los Angeles Waterkeeper. "In Southern California, every drop of water is already spoken for. The impacts of this ballot measure could be significant; if it passes, it would be much harder to hold data center developers accountable to limit the water use these thirsty facilities demand.”

"A single data center can draw as much power as an entire county. When the grid can't keep up, developers build their own gas plants," said Fernando Gaytan, Senior Attorney at Earthjustice. "Prop 45 is too broad and will lead to more confusion than certainty. Developers will likely take advantage of this ambiguity to fast-track dangerous projects and the fossil fuel plants that power them. Environmental review lets us see the climate damage and the rate hikes coming before they hit. Prop 45 turns off that early-warning system."

"Data centers and the pollution that accompany them don't land in wealthy neighborhoods. They land in communities already breathing the worst air in California," said Jennifer Ganata, Legal Department Co-Director, Communities for a Better Environment. "We've seen this before. Industry moves in, the pollution stays, and families are left with the hospital bills and the cleanup tab. Prop 45 takes away the tools frontline communities use to protect their kids."

"We're a small, rural, border community. We don't have lobbyists. We had the law, and the law worked," said Kristian Salgado, a community organizer in Imperial County, where residents organized, the city of Imperial and the Sierra Club sued, and a judge ordered a full environmental review of the proposed data center. "Imperial already has some of the highest childhood asthma rates in the state. The environmental review process is the reason we got a seat at the table, and that would be lost if Prop 45 passes.”

Data center developers and the utilities that serve them, including Prologis, Edison International and PG&E, have spent more than $10 million to try to pass the measure. While the proponents of Prop 45 are marketing the measure as a way to bring down housing costs and utility bills, nothing in the measure requires developers to pass any savings along to consumers. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office estimates it could cost state and local governments more than $100 million a year.

More than 500 organizations and leaders oppose Prop 45, including the League of Women Voters of California, the American Lung Association, the Coalition for Clean Air, the ACLU of Southern California, the California Nurses Association and California Professional Firefighters.

A recording of today's briefing and background materials are available on request. To arrange interviews with briefing speakers, No on Prop 45 spokespeople or community leaders fighting data centers in California, contact Severn Williams at sev@publicgoodpr.com or 510-336-9566, or Woody Little at Press@NoProp45CA.com, 510-418-8785.

Learn more at www.noprop45ca.com.

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