Members of the Fresno Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Council on Tuesday voted to support the Building an Affordable California Act (BACA), joining a broader coalition of business organizations and local chambers across California.
The vote came after a presentation to the council and other local leaders, during which the California Chamber of Commerce, who sponsors the bill, asked for local support.
BACA seeks to accelerate the environmental review process under the decades-old California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In a news release, CalChamber said that BACA surpassed the 25% signature threshold required to qualify for the November 2026 ballot, weeks ahead of its target date.
In the release, CalChamber said the early achievement reflects strong voter support to modernize CEQA and build at a much faster pace. The measure would, if approved by voters, tighten up and streamline the processes for environmental reviews of “essential projects,” including those related to housing, water, transportation, clean energy, transmission, broadband, and healthcare infrastructure.
Advocates say that BACA represents the most comprehensive and consequential CEQA reform in more than 50 years, while detractors counter that it will roll back environmental protections and prove too costly.
“If we want to make California more affordable, we have to do a better job of approving our essential projects,” CalChamber President and CEO Jennifer Barrera said in an interview. “This initiative is an acknowledgement that we can do better in California, that we can update a 50-year-old law and do things in a more efficient way.”
Legal analysts have been quick to point out that BACA does not exempt projects from CEQA or from compliance with any other state or federal environmental law; the integrity of the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and California Coastal Act, for example, remains uncompromised, according to Sean Marciniak and Niran Somasundaram with San Francisco-based Hanson Bridgett LLP.
In their analysis of the initiative, Marciniak and Somasundaram write that BACA “represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to realign CEQA with its intended purpose.”
“We believe the measure is legally sound, carefully drafted, and urgently needed,” they said.
The measure has drawn strong support from the water, housing, energy and agricultural sectors.
“[BACA] helps improve access to water by reducing delays and costs of our vital water projects so our family farms can keep food more cost effective for California families and continue feeding the nation and the world,” said Emily Rooney, President of the Agricultural Council of California.
Dan Dunmoyer, President and CEO of the California Building Industry Association, said BACA “cuts unnecessary delays so homes can be built faster and at lower cost—helping more families find housing they can afford.”
Importantly, according to Marciniak and Somasundaram, BACA applies not just to the main project, but also to all supporting infrastructure—such as roads, utility connections, sewage systems, pipelines and substations—so the entire project can be approved together, preventing delays from separate, step-by-step approvals.
“We encourage serious engagement with this effort,” they said.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office, in December 2025, issued a seven-page analysis of the initiative and determined that, long-term, “state and local governments likely would experience net savings due to reduced administrative and legal workload.”
The Blue Sky Consulting Group authored a separate report that produced similar results. Costs will go down, the report concluded, when a project’s backers are no longer beset by indefinite delays.
“The essential projects made feasible by BACA would themselves provide substantial economic and fiscal benefits once completed,” the report stated.
For more updates on Fresno County development and business initiatives, stay connected with the Fresno Chamber of Commerce.
Photo by Josh Olalde on Unsplash
