The Health Environment for All (HEAL) Act is one of the most meaningful commitments lawmakers made in the landmark 2021 Washington state legislative session.
It stands with groundbreaking climate policy, a forward-looking capital budget and dozens of other bills that are crucial to realizing our vision of a world where people and nature thrive.
The Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act is a first step toward ensuring that communities overburdened by pollution and other environmental risks can begin to recover, so children and adults alike can breathe cleaner air, drink cleaner water and all have a chance at a healthier future.
Introduced and championed by 37th District Senator Rebecca Saldaña, the bill implements many of the recommendations from the state’s Environmental Justice Task Force. In 2020, the Task Force issued a report of findings from years of work with community leaders and voices from community listening groups across the state. Thanks to the time and generosity of groups and individuals across Washington, advocates led by Front and Centered brought a strong, thoughtfully crafted policy with broad support to the Legislature in 2021.
With Governor Inslee’s signature, the HEAL Act will help Washington state finally begin to bring environmental and climate policy and practices in line with environmental justice principles. Among the recommendations implemented by the HEAL Act are:
Defining environmental justice (EJ) in state law as not just a process of bringing impacted communities into government processes, but also of equitably distributing the benefits of policy and government investments;
Requiring that state agencies conduct an environmental justice analysis when developing policy, writing regulations and planning transportation and capital projects to maximize benefits and minimize harm for overburdened communities;
Setting a goal for agencies to allocate 35% of their budgets to serving the communities and geographies most impacted by pollutants and environmental degradation; and codifying a requirement for community engagement in future planning processes;
Creating and funding an Environmental Justice Council to provide guidance and accountability to communities for state agencies as they incorporate environmental justice into their work; and
Maintaining the Environmental Health Disparities map tool to inform future investments and progress on alleviating the health burdens of pollution on communities.
The HEAL Act has set a new standard for inclusive, effective policymaking in Olympia, touching down in every corner of the state. We are grateful to Front and Centered’s member organizations and allies from across Washington, whose persistence and vision made this major step forward possible.
Banner photo by Kevin Arnold
Bicyclist in West Seattle by Hannah Letinich
