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ARTICLE · 13 OCTOBER 2026

Building An Affordable California Act: CEQA Reform For “Essential Projects”

Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP
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California voters will soon decide on Proposition 45, the Building an Affordable California Act (BACA), which promises to revolutionize CEQA environmental review for essential projects including housing, infrastructure, and renewable energy developments. The initiative would establish vested CEQA standards, accelerated review timelines, and significantly reduced litigation risks for qualifying projects. Will this landmark reform provide the certainty developers need, or will ambiguities in its broad provisi

United StatesEnvironment
Benjamin Brown
Benjamin Brown
Caroline Guibert Chase
Caroline Guibert Chase
Madison Montague
Madison Montague

The November elections are around the corner and an important voter initiative will be on the ballot: Building an Affordable California Act (BACA, also known as Proposition 45). BACA would fundamentally change how environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is conducted for qualifying “essential projects” by (i) providing for greater predictability via vested CEQA standards, (ii) establishing accelerated CEQA review timelines, and (iii) reducing CEQA litigation risks.

BACA would not create a new CEQA exemption or limit a public agency’s authority to approve or disapprove a qualifying project. Rather, it would establish a streamlining mechanism that would expedite CEQA review and entitlement processing for qualifying projects.

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