Code Section

900.  

There is hereby created the Children’s Environmental Health Center within the Environmental Protection Agency. The primary purposes of the center shall include all of the following:

(a)  To serve as the chief advisor to the Secretary for Environmental Protection and to the Governor on matters within the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency relating to environmental health and environmental protection as each of those matters relates to children.

(b)  To assist the boards, departments, and offices within the Environmental Protection Agency to assess the effectiveness of statutes, regulations, and programs designed to protect children from environmental hazards.

(c)  To coordinate within the Environmental Protection Agency and with other state agencies, regulatory efforts, research and data collection, and other programs and services that impact the environmental health of children, and coordinate with appropriate federal agencies conducting related regulatory efforts and research and data collection.

(d)  In consultation with the State Air Resources Board and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and notwithstanding Section 7550.5 of the Government Code, to report to the Legislature and the Governor no later than December 31, 2001, on the progress of the state board and the office toward implementing the act that added this part during the 1999–2000 Regular Session and to make recommendations for any statutory or regulatory changes that may be necessary to carry out the intent of that act to protect the public health, including infants and children, from air pollutants and toxic air contaminants.