When our coalition drafted Proposition 45, a commonsense plan to modernize California’s approval process for building essential projects, we knew it would be a tough campaign.
The special interest groups that, for decades, have used an outdated process to deny prosperity to a generation of Californians were always going to fight to protect the status quo.
But few could have imagined the depths of deceit embraced by these groups in their cynical campaign to confuse and frighten voters about how Prop 45 works — ignoring the consequences if we do nothing to help build a more affordable California.
Enough is enough. As the famous saying goes: You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.
Lie #1: Prop 45 will hurt California’s environment
The opponents have been shamelessly dishonest in stoking fears over the ballot measure’s impact on California’s natural resources and the health of our communities. They want to distract voters from the fact that Prop 45 is a change in government process, not environmental protection.
Prop 45 doesn’t change a single law pertaining to air and water quality, species protection, or the environment.
Their smear campaign shamelessly talks about “pollution” as though Prop 45 is about factories or industrial-level manufacturing.
They don’t want you to know it’s actually about housing. And clean energy, clean drinking water, improved public safety facilities and hospitals, wildfire prevention, schools, and transportation.
Prop 45 will cut through the bureaucratic red tape that’s bogged down these essential projects for decades, driving up California’s cost of living.
Lie #2: Prop 45 will be used to fast track the construction of data centers
The protectors of the unaffordable status quo are preying on voter concerns about data centers and what those facilities might mean to a community.
If this is as serious as Prop 45 opponents claim, why didn’t they point it out in their official ballot arguments?
Here’s why: They knew a California court would call them on their deception and order removal of the accusation from the statewide voter guide.
Now they have chosen to spread the accusation online and at public events by distorting an unrelated provision in Prop 45 — one that will help expedite vital broadband service to underserved communities.
Prop 45 uses the definition in existing law — written in 2018 — of “broadband internet access service” to determine eligibility for a streamlined review process. There isn’t a single word in the statute, nor its legislative findings, that says anything about data centers.
Data centers aren’t covered by Prop 45. The accusation is a smokescreen, a clear sign that opponents can’t win on the facts.
Lie #3: Prop 45 will ‘silence community voices’ in project review
Prop 45 doesn’t dictate what projects get built or change who makes those decisions. It simply ensures decisions get made within a reasonable amount of time.
After all, deadlines are how we get things accomplished in life.
For generations, the absence of deadlines has led to indefinite delay for essential projects — the kind of chaos on which Prop 45 opponents thrive. They exploit the process, delays that can last for years and that have nothing to do with environmental protection. Delay raises costs. And in some cases, it results in the project’s withdrawal.
But these defenders of the indefensible won’t tell you that.
Their twisted logic wants you to believe that clear, consistent deadlines will somehow deny community members a voice.
That claim would be laughable if it wasn’t so reckless, a cynical attempt to suggest that Prop 45 puts a fundamental part of our democracy at risk.
The real story is how the opponents are part of a multimillion-dollar shadow industry, one that exploits legal loopholes to file frivolous lawsuits and demand costly concessions.
Prop 45 will create fair and predictable deadlines, striking a powerful blow against a system that for decades has profited on manipulating the rules. We wrote Prop 45 because we believe a project deserves an up or down vote in a reasonable amount of time.
Prop 45 preserves public input and local control. Communities will still have a voice. Local and state agencies will still make the decisions.
Opponents are focused on imaginary consequences because they can’t defend the track record of the status quo: higher costs for housing and electricity, crumbling infrastructure, and a California that struggles to build what it needs.
They know if affordability wins, they lose.
Don’t let them fool you.
Jennifer Barrera is president and chief executive officer of the California Chamber of Commerce.
