Could Prop. 45 fast-track data centers?  Opponents say its broadband language opens a door; backers say it doesn't

Opponents of Proposition 45 say the measure on Tuesday's ballot could let data centers, the huge computer buildings that power AI, skip much of California's environmental review.  Supporters say it can't, and point to a state legal opinion, according to reporting by The Verge and CalMatters.

Prop. 45 would speed up reviews under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for projects it calls "essential."  Agencies would have 365 days to finish a full environmental report, lawsuits would have to be settled within 270 days and public comment would be limited to 45 days, The Verge reported.  The measure lists nine kinds of essential projects, including housing, clean energy and "broadband Internet access."

The argument against

Opponents say the broadband category is the opening.  The measure's definition covers internet service and "any capabilities that are incidental to and enable" it, and the measure also streamlines "ancillary" projects needed to build an essential one, which Julia Stein of UCLA's Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment told CalMatters makes it a "blunt force instrument."  "The concern here is that data center developers will find a way to shoehorn their projects into the definition," Fernando Gaytan, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental law group that opposes the measure, told The Verge.

The measure specifically excludes some projects, such as nuclear power, dial-up internet and high-speed rail, but not data centers.  Matt McKerley, an attorney at the San Francisco law firm Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger, told CalMatters a court could read that as "intent to include data centers."  Opponents also say Prop. 45 would override Senate Bill 887, a new state law that made it harder to fast-track reviews of data centers.

The argument for

Supporters say data centers are not covered.  The Yes on Prop. 45 campaign released an October opinion from the Legislative Counsel, which provides legal services to the Legislature, saying the same broadband definition in an existing state law "does not include a data center."  "The fact that data centers may play a role in supporting the Internet does not make them 'essential broadband Internet access projects,'" attorney and lobbyist Kurt Oneto wrote in The National Law Review.  The Data Center Coalition, an industry trade group that supports the measure, told CalMatters data centers "are not eligible" for the faster reviews.

Why it matters

Tech and utility money is flowing to the Yes side, which has raised more than $40 million, including $3.05 million from PG&E and $500,000 from data center developer Prologis, CalMatters reported.  Opponents have spent more than $31 million.  If the measure passes and the question is unsettled, it would likely be decided in court, where local governments could bear the cost, Nina Robertson, an Earthjustice attorney, told CalMatters.

The paper's earlier explainer covers what the rest of Prop. 45 would do, its cost and polling.

Source:  The Verge, Nov. 1, 2026; CalMatters, Oct. 30, 2026; Yes on Prop. 45, Legislative Counsel opinion release, Oct. 20, 2026; Legislative Analyst's analysis of Prop. 45