California's environmental review law (CEQA) was created with good intentions: protecting our environment and natural resources. But over time, it has increasingly been weaponized to delay or block the very projects our communities desperately need.
From affordable housing for farmworkers and childcare centers to, ironically, projects that protect and improve our environment, like clean energy, water infrastructure and wildfire mitigation, our outdated permitting system is making essential projects harder and more expensive to build.
That's why such a broad coalition of organizations, including the Farm Bureau, California Water Association, affordable housing advocates, clean energy associations and health care organizations, has come together to support Proposition 45.
We may represent different industries and communities, but we all recognize the same problem: California's endless permitting delays are driving up costs and standing in the way of progress.
Consider Sites Reservoir, which would provide approximately 1.5 million acre-feet of additional water storage to help California better prepare for droughts. Its environmental review took six years, and the project is still navigating final permits.
Meanwhile, its estimated price tag has skyrocketed from $3.9 billion in 2021 dollars to as much as $6.8 billion in 2025 dollars — a nearly $3 billion increase in just four years.
That's billions more in costs that must ultimately be borne by taxpayers.
Every year of delay means higher costs for water providers, farmers and ultimately the families who depend on reliable, affordable water and food. And Sites Reservoir is just one example of a much larger problem.
Prop. 45 offers a commonsense solution. It establishes clear, enforceable deadlines for environmental reviews and permits, curbs frivolous lawsuits and helps essential projects get built faster and more affordably.
Importantly, it does so while maintaining California's strong environmental and water quality protections.
Protecting our environment and building the infrastructure our communities need should go hand in hand, not work against each other.
California can't afford another decade of delays. Vote Yes on Prop 45.