This November, California voters will decide on the Building an Affordable California Act (BACA) — a CalChamber-sponsored ballot measure that backers say has already submitted nearly double the signatures needed to qualify. If the enaction of AB 130 and SB 131 last year was considered the largest enacted CEQA rollback in modern history, should BACA pass, it would be a potential structural rewrite of CEQA.
Here’s what makes it different: it doesn’t add new CEQA exemptions like AB 130 and SB 131 did for certain projects. Instead, it creates a faster, deadline-driven review and permitting track for a defined set of “essential projects” — housing, water infrastructure, clean energy, transportation, hospitals, schools, broadband, and wildfire prevention.
What it includes:
• Enforceable timelines on agency review, backed by the courts
• A compressed window to file CEQA challenges, with a fixed deadline for courts to resolve them
• A shift toward applying the standards in place when an application was submitted
The problem may be that the definition of “essential projects” is broad and not every project will obviously qualify. Mixed-use, industrial, and projects with ancillary infrastructure will need a documented eligibility case. That determination is where much of the value (and risk) of BACA will reside.
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