The General Assembly is considering a bill to amend the state constitution to give all Connecticut citizens the legal right to a healthy environment.
It’s not the first time the proposed amendment has come before Connecticut lawmakers. It was first introduced in 2023, by State Rep. Mary Mushinsky, and proposed again last session. But changing the constitution is complicated and often takes multiple legislative sessions.
Mushinsky, a Democrat representing Wallingford, said the amendment could allow people to take legal action against the government in the case of inaction on an environmental issue.
“Once it's a basic right in the Constitution, then citizens could band together and say their right to a clean and healthy environment is not being protected,” said Mushinsky, who co-sponsored this year’s Senate resolution in the Government Administration and Elections Committee.
The move would give citizens protections to “clean and healthy air, water, soil, ecosystems and environment and a safe and stable climate” that advocates say comes at a crucial time.
Connecticut has several policies geared toward protecting the environment, water and air, but advocates say an amendment allowing citizens to take stronger legal action could prompt a bigger emphasis on preventing negative environmental impacts in the first place.
“You cannot imagine and address every single scenario across time and across the geography of Connecticut. And so good government officials see this as a tool that the people can use,” said Maya van Rossum, founder of Green Amendments for the Generations Movement, which helps other states advocate for such efforts.
Amendment would meet moment, advocates say. But a long legislative path looms
The push also comes as the Trump administration has slashed federal support for environmental justice programs, and makes major cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency. That would have trickle-down effects into enforcement and remediation in states like Connecticut, advocates say.
“We are at a dangerous moment in history,” van Rossum said. “We, the people, have to band together through activism, to demand, and advocate for, and through action, seek and secure the critical, basic environmental protections that we all are entitled to.”
“It's more important than ever that we have the strongest possible protections for our environment,“ said State Rep. Matt Blumenthal, Democratic co-chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee.
The proposal is yet to come up for a vote in committee.
Over 280 people wrote in public testimony to support the idea. At least 40 opposed it, with some citing concern that it would pave the way for frivolous lawsuits, such as suing one's neighbor.
But Van Rossum said this doesn’t allow for that kind of action - and the three states with green amendments haven’t had any litigation dismissed as frivolous.
“The number of lawsuits that are making it into the courts in any given year are, on average, 10 or less,” van Rossum said. “That is not very much, when you look at the universe of actions and activities that are happening in the environmental arena.”
Should the idea get out of committee and be called by lawmakers for a vote the measure would need get 75% of each chambers’ vote in one year or a simple majority from two successive general assemblies. Then it requires voter approval during a general election.
New York, Montana and Pennsylvania have green amendments
Connecticut’s neighbor New York is the latest state to adopt a “green amendment” in 2021 with 70% of the state’s over 3 million residents voting in support.
The other two states, Montana and Pennsylvania, adopted the constitutional right in the early 1970s – leading to several legal rulings surrounding environmental impacts of fracking, contamination, and more.
A Montana case predicated on this constitutional right came up in courts recently. As Montana Public Radio reported in December, the state Supreme Court sided with youth plaintiffs, and affirmed that Montana agencies have to consider the greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts that any proposed development project would have on the state.
Connecticut’s resolution states that the proposed amendment language would ask Connecticut voters to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on a ballot referendum to:
- Provide each citizen an enforceable individual right to clean and healthy air, water, soil, ecosystems and environment and a safe and stable climate for the benefit of public health, safety and the general welfare, that is equivalent to all other inalienable rights.
- Place certain obligations upon the state, including requiring the state to conserve, manage, protect and maintain the state's natural resources.
- Prohibit the diversion of funds supporting protection of such resources.
If approved, the earliest it could appear on the ballot is November 2026.
