Prop 45 would reset California housing project approval clock

California voters will decide on Nov. 3 whether to put environmental reviews and court challenges on a tighter clock, a measure that would overhaul how the state evaluates housing and infrastructure projects.Proposition 45 would impose deadlines under the 1970 California Environmental Quality Act while changing review requirements and court remedies. The proposal would escalate a reform effort that has focused mostly on building more housing. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed major CEQA reforms last year, and last week he approved another zoning modification to advance a San Diego development.Proposition 45 would extend and strengthen the push for faster decisions on a broader range of housing and infrastructure projects. Environmental groups and other development opponents have used CEQA reviews and lawsuits to delay or stop housing projects. Housing advocates and state lawmakers have identified those delays as a major contributor to California’s housing affordability crisis. The November midterm election ballot measure would chisel away at delay tactics that heap time and money costs onto developers’ entitlement risks, an all-too-frequent death knell for new residential development. Early...