LOCAL LEADERS FROM ACROSS CALIFORNIA: NO ON PROP 45

SACRAMENTO – Saying it will cost cities and towns tens of millions of dollars or more and reduce their ability to review data centers and other polluting projects, elected officials from across California today joined to urge voters to reject Proposition 45.

Proposition 45 is the California Chamber of Commerce’s 41-page ballot initiative that would roll back state environmental protections and weaken the state’s defense against President Trump’s attack on state clean air, water, and public health laws.

“Proposition 45 takes away a valuable tool for our cities to ensure that projects benefit our communities,” says Sacramento Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes. “Prop 45 stifles community voices and undermines local control with new mandates at great cost to our cities at a time when we already are struggling to balance budgets. Our cities already are grappling with major developments such as data centers that require extensive study and review to ensure they have direct benefits and safeguards; we can’t afford to be strangled by the restrictions in Prop 45.”

“California cities and taxpayers simply can’t afford Prop 45 because of its provisions that will potentially allow for massive lawsuits,” says Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson. “It introduces a groundbreaking private right of action that allows developers and project applicants to sue local public agencies if their proposed projects are rejected or subjected to contested conditions of approval. That will automatically chill the ability of our communities to push back on poorly-planned or polluting projects and could lead to substantial costs.”

Under current law, Richardson notes, developers generally cannot sue cities, counties, or public agencies under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for denying a project.

“Prop 45 reduces the ability of our cities to ensure taxpayers aren’t left on the hook for poorly-planned projects,” says Berkeley City Councilmember Igor Tregub. “We should not be giving developers of projects that have major environmental impacts on our communities short cuts to approval. Under current law, smartly-designed projects get swift approval but those that don’t benefit our community deserve the scrutiny they get. Prop 45 undermines our efforts to do what’s best for our cities and towns.”

Prop 45 also drew opposition from other current and former elected officials in Oakland, San Francisco, Culver City, Thousand Oaks, Cudahy, Fairfax, Petaluma, Oxnard, Mountain View, San Diego, Pasadena, Sebastopol, and Santa Barbara. The complete list is here.

The municipal officials join four county jurisdictions that have passed resolutions officially opposing Prop 45. They include Humboldt, Marin, Santa Barbara and Santa Clara counties.

In its assessment of Prop 45, the independent and nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) noted: “Proposition 45 likely would increase costs for the state and local governments, including state courts. These costs likely would be in the high tens of millions of dollars annually, potentially exceeding $100 million annually.”

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