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39650

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 39650

39650.  The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (a) That public health, safety, and welfare may be endangered by
the emission into the ambient air of substances which are determined
to be carcinogenic, teratogenic, mutagenic, or otherwise toxic or
injurious to humans.
   (b) That persons residing in California may be exposed to a
multiplicity of toxic air contaminants from numerous sources which
may act cumulatively to produce adverse effects, and that this
phenomenon should be taken into account when evaluating the health
effects of individual compounds.
   (c) That it is the public policy of the state that emissions of
toxic air contaminants should be controlled to levels which prevent
harm to the public health.
   (d) That the identification and regulation of toxic air
contaminants should utilize the best available scientific evidence
gathered from the public, private industry, the scientific community,
and federal, state, and local agencies, and that the scientific
research on which decisions related to health effects are based
should be reviewed by a scientific review panel and members of the
public.
   (e) That, while absolute and undisputed scientific evidence may
not be available to determine the exact nature and extent of risk
from toxic air contaminants, it is necessary to take action to
protect public health.
   (f) That the state board has adopted regulations regarding the
identification and control of toxic air contaminants, but that the
statutory authority of the state board, the relationship of its
proposed program to the activities of other agencies, and the role of
scientific and public review of the regulations should be clarified
by the Legislature.
   (g) That the Department of Food and Agriculture has jurisdiction
over pesticides to protect the public from environmentally harmful
pesticides by regulating the registration and uses of pesticides.
   (h) That while there is a statewide program to control levels of
air contaminants subject to state and national ambient air quality
standards, there is no specific statutory framework in this division
for the evaluation and control of substances which may be toxic air
contaminants.
   (i) That the purpose of this chapter is to create a program which
specifically addresses the evaluation and control of substances which
may be toxic air contaminants and which complements existing
authority to establish, achieve, and maintain ambient air quality
standards.
   (j) That this chapter is limited to toxic air contaminants and
nothing in the chapter is to be construed as expanding or limiting
the authority of any agency or district concerning pesticides which
are not identified as toxic air contaminants.
   (k) That a statewide program to control toxic air contaminants is
necessary and desirable in order to provide technical and scientific
assistance to the districts, to achieve the earliest practicable
control of toxic air contaminants, to promote the development and use
of advanced control technologies and alternative processes and
materials, to identify the toxic air contaminants of concern and
determine the priorities of their control, and to minimize
inconsistencies in protecting the public health in various areas of
the state.