Public Participation: A Bottoms-Up Approach to Law-Making and Enforcement

Abstract

This article addresses public participation provisions in law making and law enforcement in select American states and federal statutes and beyond. The article describes the advantages and disadvantages of public participation in general. It then argues that U.S. law – with a particular view to California law – could be improved by emulating certain provisions of the UNECE Aarhus Convention, which is a model of public participation in national and international environmental law.