October 21, 2025
The initiative aims to streamline the CEQA review process for “essential projects,” arguing that the current system is “too slow, too bureaucratic, and too costly.”
The road to the November 2026 ballot is long and treacherous. Many who set out hoping to qualify an initiative, amendment, referendum or bond issue know they will never make it; others hope to go the distance. Only some will actually arrive before voters in the Golden State. We’re following the would-be proponents as they hitch up their wagons and set out along the ballot trail.
HITTING THE TRAIL: The California Chamber of Commerce filed a ballot initiative Tuesday that would overhaul CEQA, California’s broadest environmental law, casting it as an effort to spur development and lower housing costs.
The initiative, titled the “Building an Affordable California Act,” aims to push beyond changes to the law passed earlier this summer and streamline the entire CEQA process for “essential projects,” arguing that the state’s “outdated system” is “too slow, too bureaucratic, and too costly.”
MISSION DRIVEN: The measure proposes a series of changes to streamline CEQA in an effort to cut red tape and limit lawsuits that the chamber says unnecessarily delay projects deemed “essential” like affordable housing, clean energy, transportation and wildfire resilience. It would create enforceable deadlines for review, giving government officials one year to approve or deny environmental impact reports, as well as measures to limit the effectiveness of “frivolous” NIMBY lawsuits.
“Legislators have previously approved narrow project exemptions, but it’s time to actually modernize the 55-year-old law,” wrote Jennifer Barrera, the president and CEO of CalChamber, in an argument for the proposal. “Californians deserve a law that recognizes prosperity isn’t the enemy of preservation.”
WHY THE BALLOT TRAIL: After approving changes to CEQA this year, it’s unlikely the Legislature would also choose to send a second overhaul of the 1970 law to voters. Instead, CalChamber will have to gather signatures to qualify for the 2026 ballot.
LEADING THE CARAVAN: CalChamber, the state’s largest and most powerful business advocacy organization, will guide the campaign that could also find support from housing, building trades, and real estate groups and developer groups.
WAYPOINTS: The measure will receive a title and summary from the Attorney General’s office in the coming weeks.
WEATHER ON THE HORIZON: Having already come to their own consensus on CEQA reforms, it’s unclear whether CalChamber’s initiative will earn the support of Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature, although some members have apparently expressed private support for the proposal.
CHANCE OF SURVIVAL: CalChamber does not lack for money and has a long history of involvement in ballot measure campaigns, although less commonly as the main proponents. Should it manage to assemble a coalition invested in reforming CEQA, a successful signature drive seems more likely than not.