CEQA isn’t the problem or the solution to building affordable housing or public infrastructure, argues Stanford Law’s Deborah Sivas

However well-intentioned, support for Proposition 45 is deeply misguided. It is true that California, like most states, needs to build more housing, renewable energy projects, and other 21st century infrastructure. But eviscerating the California Environmental Quality Act won’t do that.

The Press Democrat recognizes the need to reduce the red tape in development, both at the state and local levels. But Prop. 45 is not the way to do it. The Press Democrat recommends a no vote on Prop. 45.

Some California leaders who have spent years spearheading changes to California’s landmark environmental protection law either haven’t taken a position on or are opposing Proposition 45, which would take even bigger chunks out of the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA.  

Proposition 45 would ease development of a wide range of projects, including some fossil-fuel facilities and possibly AI data centers.

Big Tech companies and California’s largest oil and gas well operator are spending millions to pass a ballot measure that would clear hurdles for industrial projects such as gas pipelines and possibly data centers.

Backed by data center developers and utilities, Prop 45 would be nearly impossible to undo, experts and community leaders warn

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.

Elected Officials and Local Leaders Warn of Threats to Communities, Public Health and Environmental Protections

SACRAMENTO – State Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes joined local and community leaders for a Spanish-language press briefing urging Californians to vote no on Proposition 45, warning that the 41-page ballot initiative would weaken environmental protections, limit public oversight of polluting projects and put communities already burdened by pollution at greater risk.

SACRAMENTO —  When does positive reform become negative regression? That’s what Californians need to answer before voting on Proposition 45, which would substantially change the state’s landmark environmental protection law.

The business-backed ballot measure would make it much easier and less costly to build loads of projects — not just housing, but also water works, clean energy and transportation facilities.

Proposition 45 would significantly expedite the CEQA review process for eight categories of projects and potentially make it easier to build  environmentally ruinous projects.

Prop 45 is poll-tested political Swiss cheese, not a thoughtful effort to produce better outcomes. Vote no. 

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.

... CORPORATE BACKERS

LOS ANGELES –  Eaton fire survivors and other Prop 45 opponents with the group “People Over Polluters” rallied today outside the downtown office of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce to blast Edison International’s $4 million in contributions to pass Prop 45.

When a county judge put the brakes on what would be the largest data center in California, ruling the whole project needed extensive environmental review, Kristian Salgado was relieved. ...

Now, Salgado and others who share her concern believe Proposition 45 on the November ballot could roll back their wins. The initiative changes the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, a law intended to inform decision makers and the public about a project’s possible environmental impacts — and mitigate them to the extent possible.

SAN FRANCISCO – Opponents of Prop 45 with the group “People Over Polluters” rallied today outside the corporate headquarters of Prologis at Pier 1, blasting the data center builder’s $500,000 in contributions to pass Prop 45, which would fast track data center development.

SACRAMENTO – Boards of Supervisors in four California counties – Humboldt, Marin, Santa Barbara, and Santa Clara – have passed resolutions urging voters to oppose Proposition 45, noting the measure would undermine local laws to protect the community and the environment while increasing costs to county governments.

And yet this election cycle, a handful of county-level Republican parties have split from the state central committee over perhaps the most significant opportunity to speed building in decades: Proposition 45, a ballot measure proposing to streamline approval under the California Environmental Quality Act for a range of construction projects.

SACRAMENTO – Disputing claims by its proponents that it will accelerate transit and housing projects, more statewide and regional affordable housing and transit advocates announced their opposition to 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.

LOS ANGELES – The ACLU of Southern California today released its 2026 Voter Guide urging a “No” vote on 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.

LOS ANGELES – Opponents to Proposition 45 continued to collect newspaper endorsements to reject the ballot measure from throughout the state this week. 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.

SACRAMENTO – Three more California newspapers – the Santa Barbara Independent, the Bay Area Reporter, and the SF Bay Guardian – are urging their readers to vote no on 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.

SACRAMENTO – Prologis, which is planning five data centers in San Jose alone, has contributed another $250,000 to the Yes on Proposition 45 campaign, according to records filed with the California Secretary of State. The contribution brings the San Rafael-based company’s contributions to the Yes on 45 campaign through its “Modern Infrastructure Alliance Action Fund” to $500,000.

SACRAMENTO – Prop 45 continues to fail to win the support of the state’s major pro-housing groups, including prominent organizations in the Bay Area – undercutting proponents' claims that the measure will accelerate housing development. 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.

SACRAMENTO – California’s leading environmental and wildlife organizations today urged voters to reject Proposition 45, saying that the measure would gut the state’s environmental laws that protect California’s most threatened species.

Proposition 45 may sound good at first but it looks a lot less appealing once you read the fine print.

If it passes, Prop. 45 would fast-track approval of a long list of polluting projects.

Here in the Central Valley, where we suffer from some of the worst air quality in the country and high rates of polluted drinking water, voters should pay attention.

Proposition 45 was placed on the ballot by the California Chamber of Commerce and is supported by a wide range of special interests — big corporations that want to make it easier for themselves to build CO₂ and methane gas pipelines, landfill gas facilities and industrial warehouses next to homes with less public oversight.

This November, California voters will have a chance to push back against President Trump’s attacks on our clean air and water, public health, and open space by voting NO on Proposition 45. This deceptive ballot initiative is a 41-page recipe for pollution and sprawl. It would weaken California’s bedrock environmental law and make it easier to build data centers, warehouses and other polluting projects – with severely limited public oversight.

SACRAMENTO – Undercutting the California Chamber of Commerce’s claim that its Proposition 45 will accelerate housing development, the pro-housing group California YIMBY (“Yes In My Back Yard”) is refusing to back the measure, saying “there are good reasons to oppose it” in a recently published analysis.

Proposition 45 would make far-reaching changes to environmental review for "essential" projects that would be difficult to alter.

Proposition 45 uses the initiative process to blow a massive hole in CEQA. It seeks explicitly to turn a process meant to determine environmental impact into one that prioritizes project completion. 

SACRAMENTO – Five Republican county organizations have announced their opposition to Proposition 45, the California Chamber of Commerce’s costly 41-page ballot initiative that would reduce local control, cost local governments millions and weaken California’s clean air, water, and public health laws.

SACRAMENTO – California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, whose portfolio oversees state financing of housing, infrastructure and water projects, today urged voters to reject Proposition 45.  

“While I believe we should reduce unnecessary bureaucracy to bring more housing, infrastructure and water projects online, Proposition 45 is a dangerous, sweeping measure that weakens community input and environmental protections,” said Ma.

Proposition 45 makes it easier to build a long list of projects throughout California with less public oversight, and its definition of “broadband” projects is written broadly enough that data center developers can argue they qualify. Its backers insist data centers aren’t covered. Yet they wrote explicit exclusions for other controversial projects, like the Delta tunnel and high-speed rail, and chose not to do the same for data centers.

Recent campaign filings by the Yes on Proposition 45 campaign revealed two donations that quickly drew condemnations from Democratic leaders. One was a $750,000 donation to the California Republican Party and the other a $100,000 check to Reform California, the political organization run by firebrand conservative Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-Valley Center.

Ronald Reagan, who signed the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in 1970, often repeated the John Adams quote, “facts are stubborn things.”

Indeed they are – particularly when it comes to the question of whether data centers are included in Proposition 45, 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.

... “REFORM CALIFORNIA” GROUP

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and State Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón today released a joint statement decrying the six-figure contribution from the Yes on Proposition 45 Committee to Reform California, the Trump aligned political action committee led by Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego), the lead proponent of the measure on the ballot to restrict voting rights of Californians, Proposition 39.

... from California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks

SACRAMENTO – The Yes on Proposition 45 campaign has donated $725,000 to the California Republican Party, Politico California reported today, drawing fire from California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks.

SACRAMENTO – Several of the largest and most influential labor unions in California today announced their opposition to Proposition 45, 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, clean water and public health laws.

SACRAMENTO – The No on Proposition 45 campaign launched its first television spot this week, attacking the ballot measure for a massive loophole that will fast track “certain projects” such as data centers, gas pipelines, and many industrial warehouses, silencing community voices and limiting public scrutiny.

... SAY KEY CALIFORNIA LEGISLATORS

SACRAMENTO — Three leading California lawmakers today announced their opposition to Proposition 45, saying the ballot measure is an unnecessary overreach in the wake of the passage of multiple bills in this and previous legislative sessions designed to promote affordable housing and responsible infrastructure development. 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.

Oil and gas companies, for-profit utilities and data center developers are spending millions to limit oversight and public input.

The corporations behind Proposition 45 say it simply “expedites environmental review for certain projects.” It may sound harmless, but the truth is that corporations funding this ballot measure don’t want to disclose their other projects.

SACRAMENTO – The Middle Class Taxpayers Association, a grassroots movement of California taxpayers, today announced its opposition to Proposition 45, 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, clean water and public health laws.

SACRAMENTO – In a column in the legal publication The Daily Journal, two of the state’s leading land use attorneys today confirmed that Proposition 45 will fast track the construction of controversial data centers in California.

SACRAMENTO – In response to the PPIC poll released today, the No on Prop 45 Campaign released the following statement:

PPIC’s new poll has support for Proposition 45 below 50 percent — a stunning decline of 24 percentage points in just weeks. 

SACRAMENTO – One of the state’s leading housing experts says Proposition 45 will not accelerate the development of affordable housing or reduce housing costs but instead will muzzle communities from input on the development of polluting projects.

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.

SACRAMENTO – One of the world’s largest data center builders has contributed $250,000 to the Yes on Proposition 45 campaign, according to records filed with the California Secretary of State. 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.

SACRAMENTO – The American Lung Association, the nation’s leading organization working to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease, today announced its opposition to Proposition 45, 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, clean water and public health laws.

SACRAMENTO – Saying it “would create significant legal uncertainties that are likely to embroil local governments in additional litigation for decades to come,” a new report from the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) is urging rejection of Proposition 45, 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, clean water and public health laws.

SACRAMENTO  — Saying it is “unnecessary and flawed,” the League of Women Voters California today announced its opposition to Proposition 45, 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, clean water and public health laws.

DATA DEBATE: A new front is opening in the war over data centers. Opponents of Proposition 45, a ballot measure to overhaul California’s landmark environmental law, are seizing on bipartisan backlash to AI infrastructure to argue that the measure could help developers fast-track their construction.

SAN JOSE — The California School Employees Association (CSEA), an influential union that represents nearly a quarter-million public school support professionals across California, today announced its opposition to Proposition 45, 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, clean water and public health laws.

According to a statement from Representing California’s Rural Counties (Lassen County is a member), this memo provides an analysis of Proposition 45, which would make significant changes to local and state permitting processes, the California Environmental Quality Act, and tribal consultation obligations for a wide variety of “essential projects.”

SACRAMENTO – The California Professional Firefighters (CPF) today announced their opposition to Proposition 45, 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, clean water and public health laws.

SACRAMENTO – The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) today announced their opposition to Proposition 45, 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, clean water and public health laws.

A debate over whether Proposition 45 could ease environmental review for data centers is emerging as a major fault line in the campaign over the California ballot measure, as opponents seek to connect proposed changes to the California Environmental Quality Act with growing public resistance to the massive facilities.

The special interests behind Prop 45 – including oil and gas companies, utilities, and data center developers – are dead-set on dismantling California’s existing protections for our air, water, and health and leaving taxpayers stuck with cleanup bills.  The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates Prop 45 could cost taxpayers more than $100 million per year. Here’s the truth about what this dangerous measure would mean for our state.

Opponents of Proposition 45, which creates new rules under the California Environmental Quality Act for some building projects, are arguing the so far well-polling ballot measure would grease the skids for the construction of data centers, which poll very badly.

The allegation comes as a large and growing coalition of environmental groups, joined by some labor unions and the California Democratic Party, mount a pitched campaign against what they call a corporate power grab clothed as an affordability measure.

Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) recently completed a survey of California voters to assess their views of Prop 45. The study shows Prop 45 faces a challenging path to passage. Fewer than half of voters support it after hearing the ballot label, and fewer than two in five are in favor after messaging for and against the measure.

For advocates working at the intersection of environmental protection and climate-smart growth, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) has long been a source of both pride and frustration. While it has been a critical tool to protect our natural and working lands, its procedural delays have often been used to stall projects essential to a low-carbon future: dense infill housing and transit-oriented development in our existing communities.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An enthusiastic crowd of diverse stakeholders gathered on the West Steps of the California State Capitol on August 5 to oppose Proposition 45, the November ballot measure coalition members are calling the Corporate Polluting Projects Prop. Speakers from environmental justice, public health, and conservation organizations warned that the measure would strip away decades of public oversight over harmful industrial projects and hand more power to corporate polluters.

Proposition 45 would minimize environmental review of data centers, freeways, fossil-fuel power plants, dams, sprawling land uses into wildfire zones and more. The cost of review would be shifted to the government, over $100 million per year.

Proposition 45, known as BACA, which should stand for the Backtrack California Act, would take California back to the days when developers had no accountability for the impacts of their projects.

California voters will decide the fate of a proposal that speeds up approvals for certain projects and changes how the state’s bedrock environmental law can be applied to them. Below, an environmental justice advocate says Proposition 45 empowers bad actors and shifts costs to taxpayers. The opposing view: An affordable housing advocate says historic misuse of environmental laws have delayed projects California can no longer wait for.

This November, Californians will face a ballot measure that should concern anyone who values clean air, clean water, clean soil and the health of their community. Prop 45, brought forward by the California Chamber of Commerce, is a serious threat to public health, and people who care about protecting their families and neighborhoods need to stand up and oppose it.

Don’t let the supporters of Proposition 45 fool you. Their main interest is in lining their own pockets. It is supported by developers and businesses.

They care nothing about our neighborhoods, our environment or actually providing affordable housing.

We actually need to strengthen CEQA to protect our environment, neighborhoods and the ability of cities to determine their own development.

Please vote no on Proposition 45.

The California Chamber of Commerce wants voters to believe its ballot initiative is a commonsense fix to an outdated law. It is not. The initiative is a sweeping rewrite of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the state’s most important environmental law, that would shift enormous costs and legal risk onto cities, counties, and other public agencies across California. The growing coalition of good government, public health, labor, environmental and environmental justice groups opposing this measure aren’t alarmists. They’re reading the fine print. Public officials should too.

As I noted in my initial analysis of the California Chamber of Commerce’s ballot initiative to rollback most of CEQA, one important point about the initiative is how many different projects are covered by it – despite the framing that it only covers “essential projects.”

Proposition 45 begins with a diagnosis that is difficult to dispute: California has forgotten how to build, and the friction of regulation is too burdensome, resulting in delays and inflated costs. Useful infrastructure gets caught in procedural thickets that raise costs without always producing better outcomes. There is clearly appeal to a ballot measure promising faster environmental review.

The problem is that Proposition 45 is far less careful than the sales brochure might lead you to believe.

The committee — operating as One Voice for California, sponsored by labor, health and environmental organizations — unites the organizing strength of California labor, the credibility of the state’s leading public health and environmental advocates and funders, and the people power of more than 250 organizations and growing.