Prop 45 was introduced by the California Chamber of Commerce, which represents oil companies, developers, investor‑owned utilities, and other major industrial interests. It will directly weaken protections for clean air, clean water, public health, and wildlife.
- 1.
Prop 45 guts air, water, and health protections for polluting projects.
It shifts power from public agencies to developers, and nearly eliminates the courts' ability to prevent toxic contamination of our air and water. These changes could apply to everything from data centers and freeway expansions to dams, landfill gas facilities, and waste conversion projects.
- 2.
If a project pollutes our air and water, taxpayers will have to pay to clean it up.
By weakening the protections secured by the California Environmental Quality Act, Prop 45 forces cities, counties, and the state to absorb the long-term costs of pollution, infrastructure damage, public health impacts, and climate risks. Corporations save money; the public pays more.
- 3.
Prop 45 leaves California vulnerable to the federal government's extreme environmental rollbacks.
Federal environmental laws that protect clean air, clean water, and wildlife are being dismantled. Prop 45 removes our state's strongest backstop to the federal rollback.
- 4.
Prop 45 is being bankrolled by special interests and corporations.
The measure is heavily funded by corporate PACs, for-profit utilities, and industrial interests. These entities are protecting corporate profits, not everyday Californians.
- 5.
Prop 45 gives corporations the right to sue cities that try to stop or fix polluting projects.
It allows developers to sue public agencies for denying polluting projects or imposing conditions that protect communities – like requiring a data center to reduce its water usage.
- 6.
Prop 45 won't save money for Californians.
It includes no requirements that projects must find a way to bring costs down for everyday Californians. The Legislative Analyst's Office analysis says the measure will cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars annually in the initial years of implementation.
Bottom line
Prop 45 is a corporate-backed rollback of critical public health and environmental protections. It raises costs for taxpayers. It's the wrong direction for California.