Environmental review in California has no clock, and finishing it buys no certainty. An agency can take years to review a housing project, and once it's finally approved a single lawsuit can void it and send everyone back to the start. The only guaranteed winner is whoever wanted nothing built.

Prop 45 puts the process on deadlines for essential projects. Agencies get 30 days to deem an application complete, 90 business days to rule on an exemption, and 365 business days to finish an environmental report, and an applicant can force a decision when an agency blows a deadline.