Marin County, and all of California, needs more housing and modern infrastructure. We need reliable water and energy systems, better transportation, and greater resilience to wildfire.
At the Marin Conservation League, we support efforts to make the approval process for these projects more efficient and predictable.
Proposition 45 is not the way to do it. By limiting public oversight and weakening protections for clean air and water, Proposition 45 puts Marin’s communities and environment at risk. MCL strongly opposes the measure and encourages Marin residents to vote no.
This billionaire-backed initiative strips some of the most basic provisions from the California Environmental Quality Act, one of the most successful environmental protections in the nation.
Prop. 45 would make significant changes to CEQA and the Permit Streamlining Act for projects it defines as “essential.” Unfortunately, that category is far broader than the name suggests, including everything from data centers and freeways to dams and carbon dioxide pipelines. And nothing in the initiative requires streamlined projects to result in lower housing prices, lower utility bills, or other savings for Californians.
The initiative would undercut basic tenets of environmental review, the backbone of CEQA.
Environmental review doesn’t stop projects; it helps improve them. CEQA asks the project applicant to tell the public what the project would mean for traffic, water and air quality, wildlife and public safety – and whether changes to the project could reduce those impacts. Done well, environmental review helps make a needed project safer and more livable.
Proposition 45 would give project applicants – not professional planners – the choice of whether to use the initiative’s new streamlining provisions. Those provisions would drastically cut CEQA protections by limiting environmental review timelines, reducing the time available for public participation, and constraining agencies’ ability to use the best available science when evaluating impacts to clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat and public health.
Changes to the Permit Streamlining Act raise similar concerns. Once an agency has reviewed an application for completeness, it would not be allowed to request information in a subsequent review that it did not identify the first time. That may sound efficient, but complicated projects often raise questions that are not apparent at the beginning of the process.
Rushed environmental reports and lack of data don’t lead to better outcomes for communities.
For example, a traffic study may appear complete until fire officials point out that it doesn’t examine evacuation conditions during a wildfire. A drainage plan may appear adequate until further analysis shows that runoff could overwhelm a nearby creek during winter storms. Understanding these details takes time, expertise and access to the best available science. Prop 45 limits all of this.
Local knowledge matters, too. Residents often know best where king tides flood low-lying roads and cut off neighborhood access. Community volunteers may know where newts cross roads during seasonal migrations — something a one-time survey can easily miss. Under Proposition 45, public review periods could not be extended simply because a project or its impacts proved unusually complex, leaving residents and local experts less time to share information before decisions are made that will directly affect them.
The initiative also changes how “alternatives” to a project may be considered. Today, an environmental impact report generally analyzes a range of alternatives, including a “no project” option. When an applicant chooses Proposition 45’s preliminary-scoping process, the applicant would develop just one project alternative. The community is left with a “take it or leave it” process, instead of careful consideration of options and reasonable alternatives.
Nor is Proposition 45 a cost-saving measure for government. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that implementing the measure could increase state and local government costs by $100 million or more each year. That is particularly notable for an initiative being sold to voters under the banner of affordability.
California’s permitting and environmental review system needs improvements. Reviews sometimes take too long, and unnecessary delay has real consequences. Those problems deserve reform. But meaningful reform would make it clearer to applicants what studies are required, help reviewing agencies work together, and give planning departments enough qualified staff to complete reviews on schedule.
Faster decisions should come from a more thoughtful and efficient process, not from preventing planners from following new facts and limiting community input.
The Marin Conservation League urges a no vote on Proposition 45.