PROP 45 THREATENS CALIFORNIA’S ENDANGERED SPECIES & ENVIRONMENT

Prop 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.


“The Trump administration and allies in Congress have cleared the path for polluters in our state,” said Laura Deehan, state director with Environment California. “They’re trying to unravel clean air protections, drill for oil off our coast and put our last wild forests on the chopping block. California must stand up to polluters and protect the bedrock state laws that are the last defense for our environment.”

The groups said that Prop 45 will destroy key provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that require analysis and feasible mitigation for significant impacts to endangered species habitat. A new UC Berkeley legal analysis of Prop 45 notes that, if passed, “CEQA protections for endangered species habitat would be gone.”  

The analysis said Trump Administration policies are a “double-punch” to California’s endangered species protections that will “likely eliminate protections for endangered species habitat under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for a wide range of projects.”

“California is on the verge of eliminating most of its protections for the habitat of endangered species,” writes UC Berkeley Law Professor Eric Biber, who is a specialist in conservation biology, land-use planning and public lands law. “That is the result of the double-punch of retrenchment by the Trump Administration on the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the impact …of Proposition 45…”

The groups denounced the ballot measure in front of the offices of the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Building Industry Association (CBIA) in Sacramento, the two largest funders of Prop 45. In June, CBIA sought to de-list the Swainson’s Hawk from protection under California law – the first formal delisting request the state has seen in 17 years. The California Chamber of Commerce, sponsor of Prop 45, also has a long record of opposing protections for endangered species. In a recent legislative session, it opposed legislation authored by Assemblymember Nick Shultz (D-Burbank) and signed into law by Governor Newsom to protect endangered species.

“One of California’s most threatened species is the magnificent Swainson’s Hawk. The species is on the threatened list in California because its habitat is being destroyed by sprawl,” said Yvonne Baginski, Conservation Director at the Napa Solano Audubon Society. “Thankfully, the law that protects the hawk has helped it mount a comeback. But that is all at risk, thanks to Prop 45 and its funders.”

"Prop 45 allows polluters to take short-cuts to get polluting projects approved,” said Tiffany Yap, Urban Wildlands Science Director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It means we won’t have all the facts about these projects’ potential to harm the environment. For California's threatened and endangered species, those consequences can be permanent.”

The measure is one of the most controversial of the 14 measures on the November ballot, and has already attracted opposition from a broad range of more than 450 organizations including the League of Women Voters of California, American Lung Association, Coalition for Clean Air, California Professional Firefighters, and the California Nurses Association.

The Legislative Analyst's Office concluded the measure could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

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