Environmental justice in California is enforced through a stack of state laws that identify the most pollution-burdened neighborhoods, direct billions of dollars in climate funding to them, require cities and counties that contain them to plan around pollution disparities, and target specific communities for accelerated air cleanup. The cap-and-trade program alone has generated over $28.3 billion, and at least 35% of that money must benefit disadvantaged and low-income communities by statute.1California Air Resources Board. California Climate Investments 2024 Annual Report If you live in one of these neighborhoods, or advocate for one, the practical question is which law gives you what.
How California Identifies an Environmental Justice Community
Almost every state program described below runs off the same designation: a “Disadvantaged Community,” or DAC. Under Health and Safety Code Section 39711, CalEPA identifies DACs based on geographic, socioeconomic, public health, and environmental hazard criteria, targeting areas disproportionately affected by pollution together with high concentrations of low-income residents, high unemployment, high rent burden, or low educational attainment.2California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 39711
The mechanism behind the designation is CalEnviroScreen, a mapping tool built by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment that scores every census tract in the state. The current version, CalEnviroScreen 4.0, combines a pollution burden component (ozone, particulate matter, diesel exhaust, hazardous waste proximity, pesticide use, impaired water) with a population characteristics component (asthma, cardiovascular disease, low birth weight, poverty, unemployment, housing burden, educational attainment, linguistic isolation).3Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Scoring and Model The two multiply, so extreme poverty combined with moderate pollution can produce the same score as severe pollution combined with average income.
Census tracts scoring in the top 25% statewide are designated DACs, along with three smaller categories CalEPA maintains. Those top-25% tracts alone number close to 2,000 across California.4Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. SB 535 Disadvantaged Communities Whether your address sits inside one determines which of the laws below apply to you.
Checking Your Address
OEHHA publishes free interactive maps and a data dashboard. Clicking any location shows the overall CalEnviroScreen score, the individual indicators driving it, and whether the tract is a designated DAC.5Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Maps and Data – CalEnviroScreen 4.0 Even if your tract does not qualify, the indicator-level scores can show that your neighborhood ranks in, say, the 90th percentile for diesel particulate matter, which is the kind of granular data that decides where AB 617 monitoring goes.
Where the Cap-and-Trade Money Goes: SB 535 and AB 1550
California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund collects revenue from the cap-and-trade auction of emission allowances. Senate Bill 535, signed in 2012, first required that at least 25% of that revenue benefit DACs and assigned CalEPA the job of identifying them.6California Legislative Information. Senate Bill 535 – Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
Assembly Bill 1550, passed in 2016, replaced SB 535’s single percentage with a three-part formula now codified in Health and Safety Code Section 39713:7California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 39713
- At least 25% must fund projects physically located within, and benefiting residents of, designated DACs.
- At least 5% must benefit low-income households or communities anywhere in California.
- At least 5% must benefit low-income households or communities located outside a DAC but within half a mile of one.
The buckets do not overlap. A project in a DAC cannot also be counted toward the low-income requirement. Low-income households are defined as those earning at or below 80% of the statewide median income. In practice the state has exceeded these floors: roughly 73% of implemented California Climate Investments funding, over $9.2 billion, has gone to benefit priority populations.8California Climate Investments. About California Climate Investments
What SB 1000 Requires of Cities and Counties
SB 1000, effective January 2018, is where environmental justice reaches into local zoning, permitting, and infrastructure decisions. Any city or county whose territory includes a designated DAC must address environmental justice in its general plan, either through a dedicated element or through goals folded into other elements. The obligation is triggered when the jurisdiction adopts or revises two or more general plan elements at the same time.9California Department of Justice. Environmental Justice in Local Land Use Planning
Under Government Code Section 65302(h), the environmental justice content must do three things:10Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. General Plan Guidelines Chapter 4 – Environmental Justice Element
- Set objectives and policies that reduce pollution exposure in disadvantaged communities and improve access to healthy food, safe housing, public facilities, and physical activity.
- Create objectives and policies that promote meaningful public participation in decision-making.
- Prioritize improvements and programs that address the specific needs of the disadvantaged communities within the jurisdiction.
The California Attorney General’s office has published a best-practices document for SB 1000 compliance and has indicated it will scrutinize local governments that skip the requirement.11California Department of Justice. Best Practices for Implementing SB 1000
AB 617 and Targeted Air Cleanup
Assembly Bill 617, signed in 2017, created the Community Air Protection Program on the premise that statewide air quality improvements were leaving some neighborhoods behind and that those neighborhoods needed direct action rather than patience.12California Air Resources Board. Community Air Protection Program Blueprint
The program has two moving parts. CARB and local air districts select specific communities and deploy air monitoring equipment to identify exactly which local sources are driving pollution exposure. Selected communities then receive Community Emissions Reduction Programs, which are plans with enforceable measures aimed at the identified sources, whether that means truck routes, industrial facilities, or agricultural operations.13California Air Resources Board. Community Air Protection Program Unlike GGRF spending, which funds beneficial projects, AB 617 is designed to cut the pollution itself.
Your Rights to Participate
These laws create obligations for agencies, but they also give residents specific openings to weigh in.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is the broadest tool. State and local agencies must assess the environmental effects of proposed projects and release those assessments for public comment for at least 30 days.14Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. CEQA 101 – The California Environmental Quality Act Agencies must respond to significant environmental concerns raised during that window, so a documented comment about pollution effects on a nearby DAC cannot simply be set aside in the final decision.
SB 1000 requires local governments to incorporate community input when developing environmental justice elements, and the requirement is statutory rather than aspirational.9California Department of Justice. Environmental Justice in Local Land Use Planning CalEPA and CARB also maintain Environmental Justice Advisory Committees whose members include community representatives and which issue formal policy recommendations.
Section 39711 requires CalEPA to hold at least one public workshop before identifying or updating the DAC list.2California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 39711 Attending is one of the most direct ways to influence which neighborhoods receive priority investment in the next cycle.
Title VI: The Federal Backstop
Federal law adds another route. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits any program or agency receiving federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin.15US EPA. Federal Civil Rights Laws Including Title VI and EPAs Non-Discrimination Because most California environmental agencies receive EPA grants, the prohibition covers their permitting decisions, facility siting, and enforcement patterns.
EPA’s implementing regulations reach beyond intentional discrimination and also cover actions that produce a discriminatory effect based on race or national origin. A permitting decision that concentrates pollution in a predominantly minority community can support a Title VI complaint without proof of racial animus. Complaints go to EPA’s External Civil Rights Division, which can investigate and, in cases of violation, suspend or revoke federal funding.
One boundary worth noting: in January 2025, Executive Order 14096, which had directed federal agencies to address cumulative pollution impacts on overburdened communities, was revoked, and the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council was terminated.16The White House. Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions Those changes affect federal agency priorities. They do not alter California’s state statutes, which operate independently, and Title VI itself remains enforceable as federal law.