An attack on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is headed for the ballot this November, backed by the California Chamber of Commerce and over $14 million in corporate and billionaire funding.
It would strip away core environmental protections, silence community voices, and shift costs for environmental cleanup from developers to taxpayers. It would also prevent courts from pausing harmful construction of projects that actively threaten communities and the environment and allow developers to sue cities and counties that deny their projects. The initiative radically rolls back California’s environmental laws while the Trump Administration continues to gut federal environmental laws and regulations.
On April 27, leading environmental and public health organizations responded to the Chamber of Commerce's announcement that it will be turning in signatures to qualify its initiative for the ballot. Voters should reject this attack on CEQA. More than 210 California organizations signed a letter opposing the billionaire-led measure.
Proponents claim the measure, officially titled "Modifies Environmental Review for Certain Projects," would benefit the public by streamlining project approvals. In reality, it would fundamentally undermine the public health and environmental protections provided under the law that California has relied on for over half a century. By weakening environmental review requirements, the Initiative would strip public agencies of the tools they need to protect communities from the impacts posed by a broad array of large-scale and consequential projects, ranging from data centers to highway widening projects.
It would also significantly increase agencies’ litigation exposure while nearly eliminating their ability to enforce CEQA, and shift the long-term costs of inadequate environmental planning onto agencies and taxpayers.
"This is not a reform that will help everyday Californians with affordability," said Howard Penn, Executive Director of the Planning and Conservation League. “It is funded by corporations that want to avoid paying for their impacts and pollution. Californians deserve a healthy and safe environment and are willing to fight to protect those priorities."
“It shifts pollution cleanup costs and healthcare costs from developers onto taxpayers and local governments.” said Miguel Miguel, Director of Sierra Club California. “The initiative guarantees more risk and more cost, not less. As communities continue to feel the stresses of the climate crisis, our solutions should not be led by developers who seek to silence the voices on the frontline of the worst environmental harms. These voices will always hold them accountable for their actions and ready to stand up against initiatives like this on the environment.”
That’s why more than 200 public health, environmental, and environmental justice organizations are asking state legislators to oppose this sweeping rollback of foundational environmental protections and stand with the communities that depend on CEQA to protect California's environment, public health, and quality of life.