Pondering Prop 45

By Lou Segal

Sep 30, 2026

"A modest attempt to defang CEQA"

On Balance, Prop 45 Worthy of a “YES” Vote

Santa Barbara Current supports Proposition 45, the ballot measure which expedites certain infrastructure projects for review under the notorious project-killer law commonly known as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), but with major reservations.

Winston Churchill is quoted as having said that “Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” This is pretty much how we feel about Proposition 45. While we are pleased that it includes infrastructure projects – transportation, water, healthcare facilities, telecommunications, wildfire prevention, etc. – we are dismayed that it excludes gas pipelines, power plants, and nuclear generation facilities, while giving favorable treatment to wind, solar, geothermal, and other so-called green energy projects.

The problem is that California has the highest electric rates in the country because of its reliance on the intermittent nature of renewable energy. Solar and wind depend entirely on the weather and time of day, consequently, the state must spend billions of dollars to import oil and natural gas to ensure the electrical grid remains stable when the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing.

We expect Proposition 45 will do very little to change that equation. It may even put upward pressure on higher utility rates for Californians.

It is unfortunate that nuclear generation plants – a form of the cleanest energy man can produce – has been dramatically reduced in California over the last few decades. If we were able to build these projects, we could reduce our reliance on fossil fuels while stabilizing the grid from volatile price spikes due to intermittent renewables.

But Prop 45 doesn’t address this issue.

We have mixed feelings too about the expedited CEQA review of infill housing under Prop 45. While generally we like the fact it encourages the building of much needed housing, we also don’t like that it takes another tool away from localities and California residents to control their own zoning and land use.

In Santa Barbara and many other cities, we see developers using the state mandate to build massively dense housing projects that are totally out of character for suburban communities. This proposition may even help accelerate this process.

Lastly, and unsurprisingly, jails, prisons and immigration detention facilities are excluded from the expedited review under CEQA as envisioned in Prop 45. Currently, whether you like it or not, there is a critical shortage of space in immigration facilities resulting in severe overcrowding. And before anyone attempts to politicize the issue, the Biden and Obama Administrations also faced a severe overcrowding crisis within holding and detention facilities.

If you genuinely care about illegal immigrants from a humanitarian perspective, California shouldn’t make it harder to build these facilities.

Finally, there are local jails in many jurisdictions that are overcrowded because of a decade-long realignment strategy, sending low-level felony offenders to local county jails rather than state prisons. Increasingly, they are being released early, creating an additional public safety threat for Californians.

So, one might ask with all the attendant problems with respect to this proposition, why would SBCurrent support it? The reason is because the provisions in the ballot measure probably do more good than harm in the long run. California needs to invest in new infrastructure and modernize existing systems. Roads, bridges, water systems, and mass transit, are rapidly deteriorating, and currently there is almost nothing on the drawing board to fix this.

Not only is there a lack of funding but also regulatory hurdles, such as CEQA, which kills new project before they can even get started. If this is not remedied soon, it will hasten California’s economic decline and make us more vulnerable to catastrophic disasters, such as wildfires, droughts, and floods.