ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF PROPOSITION 45

LENGTHY DELAYS AND RED TAPE ARE BLOCKING ESSENTIAL PROJECTS & DRIVING UP OUR COST OF LIVING.

Families cannot afford to live in California because we are failing to deliver the basics. California’s outdated system for approving essential housing, water, clean energy, roads, schools, hospitals, and wildfire prevention projects is too slow, too bureaucratic, and too costly—driving up the cost of living for everyone.

Endless delays, red tape, and frivolous lawsuits make life more expensive and block the projects Californians need—driving up costs for housing, electricity, and water; wasting taxpayer dollars; worsening wildfire risk; increasing traffic; overcrowding schools; and delaying hospital and infrastructure upgrades.

PROP. 45 LOWERS OUR HIGH COST OF LIVING BY MAKING IT FASTER & LESS EXPENSIVE TO BUILD ESSENTIAL PROJECTS.

Prop. 45 streamlines approvals by setting enforceable timelines for project approvals; requires courts and government agencies to base decisions on the laws and regulations in place when the project application is submitted; and creates a faster, more predictable process for legal challenges while reducing frivolous lawsuits.

PROP. 45 STREAMLINES CALIFORNIA’S MOST-PRESSING ESSENTIAL PROJECTS, INCLUDING:

• Water quality and supply projects • Hospitals and healthcare facilities • Housing, including homes and apartments • Wildfire prevention • Schools and classrooms • Roads, bridges and transit • Clean energy and electric grid reliability infrastructure

PROP. 45 WILL:

• REDUCE THE COST OF HOUSING. Permitting delays add more than $75,000 to the cost of a new home. Prop. 45 will help lower rents and mortgages and save families tens of thousands of dollars on a home purchase.
• LOWER ELECTRICITY COSTS. Delays in building clean energy and electric grid infrastructure drive up electricity costs for working families. Prop. 45 helps lower electricity costs.
• PROTECT TAXPAYERS. Lengthy delays drive massive cost overruns on public projects—roads, schools, hospitals, water systems, and wildfire prevention—costing taxpayers billions more. Prop. 45 cuts costly delays, reduces costs, and helps keep projects on time and on budget.
• CREATE GOOD-PAYING JOBS AND STRENGTHEN OUR ECONOMY. Prop. 45 will create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs and billions in economic activity.

PROP. 45 MAINTAINS CALIFORNIA’S STRONGEST-IN-THE-NATION ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS.

California should not have to choose between protecting the environment and building the essential projects we need. Under Prop. 45, projects must comply with all of California strong environmental laws protecting our air, water, wildlife, and health. Prop. 45 does not exempt a single project from environmental review.

PROP. 45 PROTECTS COMMUNITY INPUT AND LOCAL DECISION MAKING.

Under Prop. 45, cities and counties retain full authority to approve or deny projects, and residents keep a meaningful voice in decisions affecting their communities.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVOCATES, HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS, EDUCATORS, WATER PROVIDERS, CLEAN ENERGY LEADERS AND CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS SUPPORT PROP. 45.

Prop. 45 is supported by a broad coalition of organizations, including:

• American Clean Power—California • California League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) • NAACP California/Hawaii State Conference • California Taxpayers Association • Environmental Policy Innovation Center

YES ON PROP. 45 TO BUILD A MORE AFFORDABLE CALIFORNIA.

Every year of delay means Californians wait longer and pay more for the essential projects we need. It’s time to cut red tape, protect our environment and build the projects California needs to make life more affordable.

VOTE YES ON PROP. 45.

YESonProp45.com

Ann-Louise Kuhns, President
California Children’s Hospital Association
Jennifer Capitolo, Executive Director
California Water Association
Jenna Abbott, Executive Director
California Council on Affordable Housing

REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF PROPOSITION 45

PROPOSITION 45 WON’T LOWER YOUR COSTS.

It doesn’t require a single project to lower your rent, your mortgage, or your utility bills. 45’s corporate funders profit while you bear the cost of their pollution.

PROP. 45 DOESN’T DELIVER AN AFFORDABLE CALIFORNIA. IT LIMITS ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC REVIEW AND RISKS PUBLIC HEALTH.

Prop. 45 could have been about building what California needs. It isn’t. Funded by gas and electric utilities and corporate PACs, Prop. 45 cuts their costs, not yours. Prop. 45 flips California law to protect their projects, harming public health and our air and water.

PROP. 45 PUTS YOUR HEALTH AT RISK AND STICKS YOU WITH THE BILL. Weaker environmental review means more pollution near homes and schools, more asthma and more emergency-room visits. When polluters don’t clean up, taxpayers and ratepayers pay more to cover the costs.

PROP. 45 TAKES AWAY PUBLIC INPUT. It limits the environmental review of new projects and your right to provide input and be heard. 45 even gives developers new rights to challenge cities and counties, while making it more difficult for project opponents to successfully challenge an agency’s decision.

Prop. 45 rewrites the rules that govern how California protects its citizens from the harm caused by major developments. Prop. 45 weakens environmental safeguards and radically shifts power to corporate polluters.

Protect your air quality, your drinking water, your family’s health, your tax dollars, and your right to be heard.

Join nurses, community and public health advocates.

VOTE NO ON PROP. 45.

www.NoProp45CA.com

Chris Tarver, R.N., President
American Nurses Association, CA
Vanessa Forsythe, RN
California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice
Martha Arguello, Executive Director
Physicians for Social Responsibility, LA

ARGUMENT AGAINST PROPOSITION 45

PROPOSITION 45 LIMITS ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC REVIEW OF PROJECTS BUILT IN YOUR COMMUNITY. VOTE NO ON PROP. 45 TO PROTECT WATER, AIR QUALITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH.

Proposition 45 limits both the environmental review of major new development projects and the public’s right to be heard. Prop. 45 lets projects move forward with far less scrutiny of their harms to air, water and public health.

PROP. 45 WEAKENS CRITICAL PROTECTIONS FOR AIR AND WATER QUALITY BY GUTTING THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA).

CEQA is California’s most important air and water quality protection law. It requires public agencies to identify, publicly disclose, and consider reducing harm to air, water, and wildlife before approving projects. Prop. 45 eliminates many of CEQA’s existing protections— letting developers fast-track the polluting projects you don’t want next door, with fewer protections for the water you drink and air you breathe.

PROP. 45 CUTS THE PUBLIC OUT OF DECISIONS THAT AFFECT YOUR FAMILY.

Today, you have a voice in what’s built near you and your family. Prop. 45 reduces public agency requirements to consider public comments on proposed projects—comments that often expose potential contamination of air and water, and damage to our coast, rivers, and wildlife. If Prop. 45 passes, decisions about what gets built near your home, your children’s school, and your water supply would be made with less information and less public input. Prop. 45 reduces your ability to protect your family and community from harm.

We need CEQA’s protections more than ever since federal protections have been weakened.

THEY POLLUTE. YOU PAY.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office warns Prop. 45 could approve projects that result in “unintended negative environmental impacts.” When corporations aren’t required to reduce their pollution, taxpayers get stuck paying to clean up cancer-causing chemicals from our drinking water and contaminated lands.

PROP. 45 WON’T LOWER YOUR COSTS.

Prop. 45 doesn’t include any requirement to lower your housing costs or your utility bills. The corporations paying for Prop. 45 will profit while you keep paying.

WHO’S BEHIND PROP. 45?

Prop. 45 was written by the California Chamber of Commerce and financed by gas and electric utilities and corporate PACs. It gives the polluters and corporations funding Prop. 45 greater freedom to put whatever they want next to your home. Your family’s health and environmental quality are more important than corporate profits.

JOIN A BROAD COALITION OF PUBLIC HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND COMMUNITY GROUPS OPPOSING PROP. 45, INCLUDING:

• National Wildlife Federation • California Communities Against Toxics • California Environmental Voters • California Environmental Justice Alliance • California Nurses for Environmental Health & Justice • Clean Water Action • Coalition for Clean Air • Physicians for Social Responsibility—Los Angeles

Whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or an independent, vote NO on Prop. 45 to protect your air and water, your tax dollars, and your right to be heard.

VOTE NO on Prop. 45.

www.NoProp45CA.com.

Joe Lyou, President
Coalition for Clean Air
Jennifer Clary, California Director
Clean Water Action
Matt Abularach-Macias, Political Director
California Environmental Voters

REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT AGAINST
PROPOSITION 45

PROP. 45 IS THE CHANGE WE NEED TO BUILD A MORE AFFORDABLE CALIFORNIA.

The status quo is failing California. Families cannot afford to live here because we’re failing to deliver the basics. Endless delays, lawsuits and red tape are driving up the cost of essentials—housing, water, electricity, schools, roads, healthcare and wildfire protection.

We have a choice: accept the failing status quo—or fix it. PROP. 45 FIXES OUR BROKEN PROJECT APPROVAL SYSTEM by eliminating unnecessary delays for essential projects—lowering our cost of living and improving our quality of life.

PROP. 45’s OPPONENTS ARE MISLEADING VOTERS TO PROTECT THE BROKEN STATUS QUO.

The same opponents fighting Prop. 45 have spent decades using these same scare tactics to block even modest reforms. They’re fighting to preserve the broken status quo that’s making California unaffordable and lowering our quality of life.

WE DON’T HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT AND BUILDING ESSENTIAL PROJECTS.

• FACT: Prop. 45 maintains every federal, state and local environmental law protecting our air, water, wildlife, and public health, including the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.
• FACT: Prop. 45 does not eliminate a single environmental law or exempt a single project from environmental review.
• FACT: Communities keep their voice. Residents maintain their right to provide public comments, oppose projects, and sue to stop projects.
• FACT: Prop. 45 only applies to essential projects: water, hospitals, housing, schools, roads, transit, clean energy, and wildfire prevention.

THE CHOICE IS SIMPLE: accept the broken status quo—or fix it.

VOTE YES ON PROP. 45 TO BUILD A MORE AFFORDABLE CALIFORNIA.

Ann-Louise Kuhns, President
California Children’s Hospital Association
Ruben Grijalva, Former California State Fire Marshal
CAL FIRE
Robert Rivinius, President
Family Business Association of California