How California voters can reform misused environmental law to boost needed projects

California voters will decide on Proposition 45, a ballot measure that would speed project approvals for certain developments while revising how the state's California Environmental Quality Act applies to them. According to CalMatters commentary, an affordable housing advocate argues that CEQA has been chronically misused to delay housing projects that pose no genuine environmental threat. One example: Liberty Lane Apartments in Redlands took nine years to open; permitting delays added twenty-one million dollars in costs, roughly two hundred sixty-six thousand dollars per affordable unit. Research shows eighty-seven percent of CEQA lawsuits target infill housing rather than open space. The proposed measure would maintain environmental protections while establishing clearer approval timelines—but it faces opposition from environmental justice advocates who contend it empowers bad actors and shifts costs onto taxpayers.

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