SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code) authorizes the State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
(b) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code) requires the State Air Resources Board to reduce statewide emissions of greenhouse gases to at least the 1990 emissions level by 2020 and to maintain and continue reductions thereafter.
(c) Continuing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is critical for the protection of all areas of the state, but especially for the state’s most disadvantaged communities, as those communities are affected first, and, most frequently, by the adverse impacts of climate change, including an increased frequency of extreme weather events, such as drought, heat, and flooding. The state’s most disadvantaged communities also are disproportionately impacted by the deleterious effects of climate change on public health.
(d) The State Air Resources Board shall achieve the state’s more stringent greenhouse gas emission reductions in a manner that benefits the state’s most disadvantaged communities and is transparent and accountable to the public and the Legislature.