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Wisconsin Rights of Nature Bills
Bill Status
- SB420 Relating to: prohibiting rights of nature ordinances.
Senator Nass
Representative Goeben
Rights of Nature Legislative Package
Overview
Human health is inseparable from the health of the natural world. Yet today’s laws treat rivers, forests, and ecosystems as material for consumption rather than as living systems with inherent rights — the rights to exist, thrive, regenerate, and be restored. Current laws often regulate destruction instead of preventing it, leaving ecosystems vulnerable and communities powerless to defend them.
That’s why we’re introducing the Rights of Nature Bill Package: our natural places need greater protection.
This package brings back the popular and bipartisan “Prove It First” law from 1997. “Prove It First” simply requires mining companies to demonstrate to the DNR that a similar mine has operated and been safely decommissioned without harming the water table before any new permits are granted.
We are also following the lead of Tribal Nations, local governments, and global communities by introducing a bill recognizing Devil’s Lake’s legal right to exist. Under current law, corporations have legal rights; yet our natural places do not. Corporations exist only on paper, while our lakes, forests, and rivers are tangible and essential to life.
Our bill package joins Wisconsin to the growing international movement to recognize the Rights of Nature in law, affirming that protecting clean air and clean water is inseparable from protecting ourselves. The paired resolution declares the Legislature’s support for the Rights of Nature movement at all levels of government.
That’s why we’re introducing the Rights of Nature Bill Package: our natural places need greater protection.
This package brings back the popular and bipartisan “Prove It First” law from 1997. “Prove It First” simply requires mining companies to demonstrate to the DNR that a similar mine has operated and been safely decommissioned without harming the water table before any new permits are granted.
We are also following the lead of Tribal Nations, local governments, and global communities by introducing a bill recognizing Devil’s Lake’s legal right to exist. Under current law, corporations have legal rights; yet our natural places do not. Corporations exist only on paper, while our lakes, forests, and rivers are tangible and essential to life.
Our bill package joins Wisconsin to the growing international movement to recognize the Rights of Nature in law, affirming that protecting clean air and clean water is inseparable from protecting ourselves. The paired resolution declares the Legislature’s support for the Rights of Nature movement at all levels of government.
Details Breakdown
Prove It First
● Originally passed in 1997 with bipartisan support — 29–3 in the Senate and 91–6 in the Assembly — and signed into law by Republican Governor Tommy Thompson.
● Repealed in 2017, despite its proven track record of protecting Wisconsin’s water and communities.
● Requires mining companies to prove to the DNR that a similar mine has:
Rights of Nature
● Declares that Devil’s Lake State Park has legal rights — including the right to clean water, biodiversity, and restoration.
● Prevents businesses and government agencies from polluting or otherwise harming the Park. ● Empowers any person or group to take legal action on behalf of the Park if its rights are violated.
● Requires those who violate the Park’s rights to pay the full cost of restoring the Park to its condition prior to the violation. ● Includes a paired resolution declaring the Legislature’s
● Originally passed in 1997 with bipartisan support — 29–3 in the Senate and 91–6 in the Assembly — and signed into law by Republican Governor Tommy Thompson.
● Repealed in 2017, despite its proven track record of protecting Wisconsin’s water and communities.
● Requires mining companies to prove to the DNR that a similar mine has:
- ○ Operated safely for at least 10 years, and
- ○ Been closed for 10 years without causing damage to the water table — before a new mining permit can be issued.
Rights of Nature
● Declares that Devil’s Lake State Park has legal rights — including the right to clean water, biodiversity, and restoration.
● Prevents businesses and government agencies from polluting or otherwise harming the Park. ● Empowers any person or group to take legal action on behalf of the Park if its rights are violated.
● Requires those who violate the Park’s rights to pay the full cost of restoring the Park to its condition prior to the violation. ● Includes a paired resolution declaring the Legislature’s
The Package
Support the Rights of Nature legislative package in Wisconsin:
- AJR114 and SJR 107: Formally recognizing the inherent rights of nature and Wisconsin's commitment to environmental stewardship.
- AB632 and SB 623): Re-establishing requirements for sulfide ore mining projects to prove environmental protection prior to approval.
- AB 633 and SB 613: Creating specific protections for Devil’s Lake Park in Baraboo, known to the Ho-Chunk people as Tee Wakącąk.
State your Opposition to:
- Bill SB420 that prohibits municipalities from enacting "rights of nature" ordinances.
Ongoing Support for Rights of Nature
Wisconsin Elected Officials: Adopt Rights of Nature Laws Today
Please help us demonstrate to elected officials and others that the Rights of Nature has deep and broad support from around our state of Wisconsin by signing this petition:
Today, we face global environmental crises - including soaring extinction rates and accelerating climate change. This has happened despite thousands of environmental laws. What those laws have in common is that they regulate the exploitation of nature - treating nature as existing for human use. It's time for that to change - for our laws to recognize nature -- the waters, plants, animals and ecosystems we live among -- as a living being with legal rights.
We call upon our elected representatives at the state and local level to adopt rights of nature laws - as communities across the U.S. have, as countries including Ecuador and Panama have, and as many indigenous nations have done - to secure the right of nature to exist, flourish, and be restored.
We call upon our elected representatives at the state and local level to adopt rights of nature laws - as communities across the U.S. have, as countries including Ecuador and Panama have, and as many indigenous nations have done - to secure the right of nature to exist, flourish, and be restored.