Proposition 45 is a measure on California’s November 3, 2026 ballot that would undo the California Environmental Quality Act: the state law that requires that harm to our health, air, water, and land to be disclosed and reduced before a large project is approved. Prop 45 was written by the California Chamber of Commerce and funded by corporations that would profit from building projects with less public oversight.
California Environmental Voters is one of more than 450 organizations and California leaders urging a NO vote on Proposition 45 in the 2026 election.
Here’s what Prop 45 would do, who’s paying for it, and why we think it’s dangerous for the health and safety of Californians.
What would Proposition 45 do?
According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, Proposition 45 would create a separate review process for a broad set of projects that developers could opt into. Under that process:
- You get less say in what projects get built near you. Today the law sets a minimum window for public comment. Proposition 45 would set a maximum, meaning less time for communities to make their voices heard.
- Judges won’t consider community-funded studies or pause projects for fixes. If your community challenged a project, the court could not meaningfully consider independent environmental studies your community commissioned, and could no longer pause the full project while problems get fixed.
- Fewer tribes will be consulted on new development projects. Agencies would only be required to consult with California tribes that hold federal recognition, rather than the wider group current law covers.
- Impact standards get frozen—even if we learn something new. Impacts would be judged against the standards in place the day the application was filed, even if we learn something new while the review is underway.
- The developer picks the alternative. Today the agency develops and weighs multiple less-harmful versions of a project. Under Proposition 45, the developer applicant would only supply one.
And it would override other health and safety regulations in California. If Proposition 45 conflicts with a state water quality law, a state air quality law, the California Endangered Species Act, the California Coastal Act, or any other statute, Proposition 45 wins.
The California Environmental Quality Act doesn’t stop projects, it helps improve them by finding problems while they can still be fixed and making sure that new projects are safe for the people nearby. You can read our full breakdown of what the California Environmental Quality Act does.
Would Proposition 45 make housing and cost of living in California more affordable?
Nothing in Proposition 45 is about making housing or the cost of living more affordable. Proposition 45 doesn’t include a single requirement anywhere in it to lower housing prices, utility bills, or costs for consumers.
Most urban housing in California—where 94% of Californians live—was already exempted from environmental review under AB 130 in 2025. What Proposition 45 would actually encourage is sprawl development in remote, high wildfire-risk areas, which tends to push costs up through higher insurance rates and longer commutes.
Proposition 45: The cost to taxpayers
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that implementing Proposition 45 could cost state and local governments $100 million or more every year.
This is a massive cost, but an even bigger cost comes later. When polluters aren’t required to prevent and clean up their own contamination, the public can be left to pay to remove cancer-causing chemicals from drinking water and contaminated land. California taxpayers are already spending more than $750 million to clean up lead contamination from a single industrial plant in Southern California. Proposition 45 could create even more cleanup costs like that for taxpayers across the state.
What projects would Proposition 45 cover?
The categories sound reasonable on the ballot summary, but looking closer reveals that the categories are far broader than most people expect. These projects could potentially include:
- Data centers
- Warehouses
- Gas pipelines
- Forest clear-cutting
- Landfill gas facilities
- Widespread application of chemical weed-killers
Of the types of projects covered by Proposition 45, it explicitly exempts some specific project types like jails and detention centers, new oil and gas production facilities, nuclear facilities, high-speed rail, and the Delta tunnel. But other projects, like data centers, would likely be built with less public oversight and community input.
For families living near freeways, warehouses, and industrial sites, environmental review is often the only defense against more asthma, more toxic runoff, and more pollution. Proposition 45 puts corporations first, letting them build polluting projects with less public oversight.
Who is funding Proposition 45?
If you want to know who Proposition 45 would really benefit, follow the money. Corporations are spending tens of millions of dollars to pass this measure, including gas and electric utilities, oil companies, data center and warehouse developers, and the California Building Industry Association. Many of these corporations would benefit greatly from less public oversight on the polluting projects they want to build and profit from.
In contrast, Proposition 45 is opposed by a coalition of more than 450 organizations and California leaders spanning housing, health, transit, clean energy, labor, civil rights, environmental justice, emergency response, and conservation groups. You can see the full list of endorsers on the No on Prop 45 website, which includes the League of Women Voters, several nurses’ associations, California Environmental Voters, ACT-LA Coalition, ACLU of Southern California, California Federation of Labor Unions, and the California Democratic Party.
Does California need Proposition 45 to build clean energy or transit?
No, California doesn’t need Prop 45 to speed up clean energy production or sustainable public transit. State law already includes provisions that speed up environmental and judicial review for clean energy projects and sustainable transit projects. Some of the deadlines in Proposition 45 are the same as, or slower than, the timelines already in place for utility-scale solar, wind, and geothermal energy projects, as well as clean rail and bus infrastructure. Prop 45 would instead fast-track projects that directly block our climate and sustainability goals, such as data centers and freeway expansion projects.
Why Proposition 45 matters today
As the Trump administration rolls back environmental protections across the country, California’s state laws are now one of the last backstops remaining. The California Environmental Quality Act is one of our strongest remaining defenses for public health, air, land, and water.
Voting NO on Proposition 45 keeps community health and safety protections in place.
What a yes or no vote on Proposition 45 means:
A yes vote on Proposition 45 means certain projects could use a weakened review and court process that limits public input on harmful projects and weakens public health protections.
A NO vote on Proposition 45 means California keeps the public oversight, tribal consultation, and corporate accountability we have today, and keeps our clean air and clean water protections strong.
How to vote on Proposition 45
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Every active registered California voter will receive a vote-by-mail ballot, which you can return by mail, drop at any official drop box, or bring to a vote center. You can also vote in person.
Check your voter registration · Find your polling place or drop box
Vote NO on Proposition 45. Then help someone else do the same!
Most voters will see a ballot summary about building housing and infrastructure faster—but they won’t see the public comment caps, the courtroom limits, or the cleanup bills unless someone tells them. Talk to your friends, family, and neighbors about the real dangers of Prop 45 and encourage them to vote NO.
Check out our 2026 ballot guide with our full slate of endorsements, our position on all 14 statewide measures, and everything you need to vote your values.
You can also see how your lawmaker voted on environmental bills in the California Environmental Scorecard, and learn more about the No on Prop 45 campaign at NoProp45CA.com.