(a)  The Legislature finds and declares as follows:

(1)  An effective planning process involving public and private sector participation exists at the county level for establishing new, or expanding existing, solid waste facilities, but an equivalent process has not been established at the local level to plan for the management of hazardous wastes.

(2)  Counties are presently required to prepare solid waste management plans for all waste disposal within each county and for all waste originating in each county. While the department has requested that counties include in their solid waste management plans a hazardous waste management element, there is not presently a clear mandate that they do so.

(3)  Hazardous waste management planning at the local level has been hampered because the department has not provided the counties with adequate and comprehensive planning guidelines, there is a lack of accurate data on hazardous waste generation, handling, and disposal practices, adequate funding has not been available, and local expertise in hazardous waste planning has not been developed.

(4)  The failure to plan for the safe and effective management of hazardous wastes has contributed to the public’s general uncertainty in viewing proposals to site hazardous waste facilities at various locations throughout the state. Because advance planning has not taken place, local governments are not prepared to consider siting proposals and the public has not received adequate answers to questions concerning the need for proposed facilities.

(5)  Safe and responsible management of hazardous wastes is one of the most important environmental problems facing the state at the present time. It is critical to the protection of the public health and the environment, and to the economic growth of the state. If environmentally sound hazardous waste facilities are not available to effectively manage the hazardous wastes produced by the many industries of the state, economic activity will be hampered and the economy cannot prosper.

(b)  The Legislature, therefore, declares that it is in the public interest to establish an effective process for hazardous waste management planning at the local level. This process is consistent with the responsibility of local governments to assure that adequate treatment and disposal capacity is available to manage the hazardous wastes generated within their jurisdictions.

(c)  It is the intent of the Legislature that the hazardous waste management plans prepared pursuant to this article serve as the primary planning document for hazardous waste management at the local level; that the plans be integrated with other local land use planning activities to ensure that suitable locations are available for needed hazardous waste facilities; that land uses adjacent to, or near, hazardous waste facilities, or proposed sites for these facilities, are compatible with their operation; and that the plans are prepared with the full and meaningful involvement of the public, environmental groups, civic associations, generators of hazardous wastes, and the hazardous waste management industry.

(d)  It is further the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this article, to define the respective responsibilities of state and local governments in hazardous waste management planning; to establish a comprehensive planning process in which state and local government, the public, and industry jointly develop safe and effective solutions for the management and disposal of hazardous wastes; to ensure that local governments are assisted adequately by the state in carrying out their responsibilities; and to provide funding for local-level planning.

(Added by Stats. 1986, Ch. 1504, Sec. 6.)