California's Prop 90 Threatens Environmental Protections

"Prop 90 attacks the basic power of local entities to regulate themselves. It strips the California constitution of the general welfare provision of police power. Normally jurisdictions have the power to regulate for health, safety, and general welfare. Prop 90, in a dangerous and haphazard way, strips the general welfare portion. Almost all of our quality-of-life regulations are justified by that general welfare provision."

"If you have to justify every law based on just public health and safety, you’d have a hard time passing any of the laws that make California the great state it is today—whether or not those are smart growth land-use laws, which the Nature Conservancy is obviously concerned with. For example, there is no way oil drilling could have been stopped on the more environmentally sensitive and pristine portions of the California coast, and the California Coastal Act would have been too cost-prohibitive to enact. Also, future conservation efforts on our coast will be very difficult if 90 passes."

"Prop 90 will not accomplish any conservation goals. The only goal it could accomplish is that it could grind California’s real estate economy to such a halt that perhaps there wouldn’t be any responsible development at all."