Heal the Bay was founded in 1985 by a group of citizens led by environmental activist Dorothy Green.

[3] The organization has become a prominent advocate for the environment in California,[2] and is particularly known for its annual report card ratings of the water quality at beaches along the Pacific coast.

[5] In 2003, then-California Assemblywoman Fran Pavley authored legislation that required the state to develop an environment-based curriculum to be offered to all California public schools.

Recent accomplishments include leading grassroots movements to pass plastic reduction policies like Straws-On-Request Archived 2019-11-08 at the Wayback Machine and California Proposition 67.

[6] Heal the Bay also launched an advocacy campaign to pass Measure W and fund the Safe, Clean Water Program.