California Environmental Right Coalition
A proposed amendment to the California Constitution to add a right to a clean and healthy environment
The California Environmental Right Coalition is working to add a right to a clean, safe, and healthy environment to the Bill of Rights (Article I) of the California Constitution. Current environmental laws, such as the federal Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Protection Act, CERCLA, and RCRA, and their California analogs are siloed. Each statute provides environmental protection in a specific area, but there are large gaps, which the Environmental Right Amendment will help to fill.
Montana, Pennsylvania, and New York have added environmental-right amendments to their state’s Bill of Rights. Other states, like Hawaii, mention this right elsewhere in their state Constitution. These rights have contributed to legal successes in protecting the environment. In Held v. Montana, the court held that the Montana Constitution recognizes the right to a stable climate, and that an act prohibiting consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in environmental impact assessments violated that right. In Hawaii, a recent settlement agreement acknowledged the constitutional rights of Hawaii’s youth to a life sustaining climate. It was the first settlement of its kind in which the state decided to work with the youth to address constitutional issues arising from climate change and commit to implement plans to decarbonize the state transportation system and reduce greenhouse gas pollution. Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment has been used to protect natural resources.
It is time for California join in this movement and add the Environmental Right Amendment to the Bill of Rights. We do have the right to clean water, clean air, a stable climate, and a healthy environment, and it is important to have that right constitutionally recognized on par with other inalienable, fundamental rights. With this right in the constitution, we will be able to hold the government more accountable for infringements upon this right and better protect and preserve the environment and its resources.
We are working to amend the California Constitution to add the Environmental Right Amendment to the Bill of Rights. This can be done through the legislature, or through voters. By going through the legislature, two-thirds of both the Senate and the Assembly must agree to the amendment, which will then appear on a statewide ballot. Alternatively, going through voters requires signatures of eight percent of the most recent total number of votes cast for the office of Governor in order for the amendment to appear on the ballot. Our current plan is to go through the legislature, though other organizations in our coalition are preparing to gather signatures to put the measure directly on the ballot. We’re building on the momentum started by the environmental right amendment (ACA 16, 2023-24 session), introduced by Isaac Bryan, Ash Kalra and Al Muratsuchi.
The following is the language we’re proposing to add to the California Bill of Rights, Article I of the State Constitution:
SEC. 33.
(a) All people, including both present and future generations, have the natural, inherent, fundamental, and inalienable right to a clean, safe, and healthy environment, including pure water, clean air, healthy soils, balanced ecosystems, a safe climate, diverse and abundant native flora and fauna, and to the preservation of the natural, cultural, and healthful qualities of the environment. The state shall not infringe upon these rights through action, inaction, or the action of others. The state shall protect these rights equitably for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomics, geography, or generation.
(b) The state, including each branch, agency, and/or political subdivision, shall serve as trustee of the natural resources of California, including its atmosphere and climate, water resources, navigable waters, submerged and submersible lands, shorelands and coastal areas, wildlife, and fish. The state, shall conserve, protect, and maintain these public-trust assets for the benefit of all the people, including present and future generations.
(c) This provision and the rights stated herein are self-executing. These rights are remedial in purpose, adding to and strengthening existing rights and remedies to achieve a healthy environment for all.
Subsection (a) provides the right. It is enforceable against the State, but not against private actors. Subsection (b) augments the public-trust doctrine, an existing body of California law, so that it includes air and climate. The doctrine requires the State to protect certain types of natural resources for the benefit of current and future generations. Subsection (c) means that the right does not require the Legislature to enact laws to enable the right, so the right itself can serve as direct legal authority in litigation.
When the federal government is repudiating and reversing environmental protections across the country, it falls to the states to step up enforcement of environmental laws. Adding the Environmental Right Amendment to California’s Constitution would be an important step in that direction. According to the Supreme Court of New York County: “The Green Amendment is a great dream realized. It exists to challenge laws, activities, or proposed actions that pose significant threats to the environment. It serves as a backstop in the event federal laws and agencies fail to offer protections. And, it is apparent that it provides an independent cause of action that may be applicable to the government’s failures to protect New Yorkers from contaminated drinking water, polluted air, pollutants, extreme weather and climate change events.” Friends of Fort Greene Park v. New York City Parks & Recreation Dep’t, 239 N.Y.S.3d 457 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2025).
The United Nations General Assembly, in a resolution adopted in July 2022, proclaimed a universal right to a clean and healthy environment, though the resolution is not binding law. NYU Law School has a chart showing that most countries have adopted the environmental right.