ARTICLE
This November, California voters will decide the fate of Proposition 45, the Building an Affordable California Act. After reviewing the measure, the Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors voted to add its name to the growing list of supporters. What the measure actually does Prop 45 sets clear timelines for environmental review under CEQA, California's environmental review law, and limits the lawsuits that can tie a project up for years, all while keeping the state's core environmental protections in place, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and California Coastal Act. Eight categories of essential projects would benefit: housing at every level, healthcare facilities, clean energy, water infrastructure, roads and transit, broadband, schools, and wildfire prevention. Every project still has to meet the state's prevailing wage and labor standards, and nothing in the measure exempts a project from environmental review. It sets a clock on the process and limits abuse of it. Why this matters for Santa Cruz County We don't have to guess at why this measure matters here. Santa Cruz County is one of the most expensive places to do business in California. The median price for a single-family home recently sat at roughly $1.3 million, about 150 percent of the statewide average, and it costs a family of three close to $13,600 a month to live here. Those numbers show up directly in your hiring. Throughout the year, as the Chamber has partnered with Workforce Santa County on industry-specific roundtable meetings, business leaders have all told us the same thing: the cost of housing and the state of our transportation infrastructure make it hard to recruit and keep good employees. Talented people either can't afford to live here or won't take on the commute, and businesses of every size feel it in recruitment and retention. Prop 45 goes after the root of that problem: the permitting process that makes it too slow and too expensive to build the housing and infrastructure our community needs. We're not alone in this Prop 45 is sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce. When the campaign announced it had qualified for the ballot this June, it already had support from more than 125 organizations statewide, and that list has kept growing since. It now includes the California Hospital Association, California Association of REALTORS, California Council for Affordable Housing, California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, California Farm Bureau Federation, the California Building Industry Association, dozens of local and regional chambers, and us. See the full coalition backing Prop 45 Supporting Prop 45 falls squarely within the Chamber’s advocacy priorities adopted by our board earlier this year. As your Chamber, we're using this position to push for policy that makes it easier for you to grow your business and build your team here in Santa Cruz County. Want to learn more? Check out the Building an Affordable California Act: full text and fact sheet
This November, California voters will decide the fate of Proposition 45, the Building an Affordable California Act. After reviewing the measure, the Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors voted to add its name to the growing list of supporters.
What the measure actually does
Prop 45 sets clear timelines for environmental review under CEQA, California's environmental review law, and limits the lawsuits that can tie a project up for years, all while keeping the state's core environmental protections in place, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and California Coastal Act. Eight categories of essential projects would benefit: housing at every level, healthcare facilities, clean energy, water infrastructure, roads and transit, broadband, schools, and wildfire prevention. Every project still has to meet the state's prevailing wage and labor standards, and nothing in the measure exempts a project from environmental review. It sets a clock on the process and limits abuse of it.
Why this matters for Santa Cruz County
We don't have to guess at why this measure matters here. Santa Cruz County is one of the most expensive places to do business in California. The median price for a single-family home recently sat at roughly $1.3 million, about 150 percent of the statewide average, and it costs a family of three close to $13,600 a month to live here. Those numbers show up directly in your hiring. Throughout the year, as the Chamber has partnered with Workforce Santa County on industry-specific roundtable meetings, business leaders have all told us the same thing: the cost of housing and the state of our transportation infrastructure make it hard to recruit and keep good employees. Talented people either can't afford to live here or won't take on the commute, and businesses of every size feel it in recruitment and retention.
Prop 45 goes after the root of that problem: the permitting process that makes it too slow and too expensive to build the housing and infrastructure our community needs.
We're not alone in this
Prop 45 is sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce. When the campaign announced it had qualified for the ballot this June, it already had support from more than 125 organizations statewide, and that list has kept growing since. It now includes the California Hospital Association, California Association of REALTORS, California Council for Affordable Housing, California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, California Farm Bureau Federation, the California Building Industry Association, dozens of local and regional chambers, and us. See the full coalition backing Prop 45
Supporting Prop 45 falls squarely within the Chamber’s advocacy priorities adopted by our board earlier this year. As your Chamber, we're using this position to push for policy that makes it easier for you to grow your business and build your team here in Santa Cruz County.
Want to learn more? Check out the Building an Affordable California Act: full text and fact sheet