(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that, in order to protect the public health and safety and the environment, and to reduce personal injury and property loss resulting from the sudden release of hazardous substances into the environment, it is necessary to establish a single, coordinated, and standardized hazardous substances incident response training and education plan for firefighters and law enforcement, emergency rescue, and environmental health personnel. A standardized hazardous substances incident response training and education program is necessary to ensure a coordinated emergency response capability throughout the state, and to eliminate duplicative and inconsistent hazardous substances emergency response training and education programs.

(b) In enacting this article, the Legislature recognizes that it is necessary to designate a single state agency to be responsible for the development of minimum standards relative to course content and subject matter for training and education of hazardous substance incident response personnel in order to avoid duplication of effort and inconsistent applications of safety procedures and protocols. The Legislature does not intend, by enacting this article, to preempt or nullify any hazardous substance incident response procedures and protocols which take into account existing conditions peculiar to a locality or region.

(c) For purposes of this article, “program” means the California Hazardous Substances Incident Response Training and Education Program established pursuant to Section 8574.20.

(Added by renumbering Section 8574.11 by Stats. 1990, Ch. 1248, Sec. 12. Effective September 24, 1990.)