The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) In addition to the statutory and regulatory policies and programs established pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq.), Division 20.4 (commencing with Section 30901), and Chapter 1.696 (commencing with Section 5096.600) of Division 5, Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000) and Division 26.5 (commencing with Section 79500) of the Water Code, and other statutes and regulations affecting watershed planning and protection, efforts to conserve, maintain, restore, protect, enhance, and utilize California’s rivers and streams for habitat, recreation, water supply, public health, economic development, and other purposes have a greater likelihood of being successful when governments, including federal and tribal governments, work in partnership with citizens in an effort to combine community resources, local initiative, and state agency support.
(b) The Legislature enacted Assembly Bill 2117 of the 1999–2000 Regular Session (Ch. 735, Stats. 2000) to require the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Resources Agency to evaluate how effective voluntary, community-based, collaborative watershed efforts or partnerships are in contributing to the protection and enhancement of California’s natural resources, and what the state can do to assist them.
(c) The agencies produced a Report to the Legislature: Addressing the Need to Protect California’s Watersheds—Working with Local Partnerships, April 2002.
(d) The recommendations of that report form the basis and factual support for promoting and encouraging local partnerships in watershed restoration, protection, and management as one of the nonregulatory means of improving watersheds.
(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that this act will bring more understanding to government agencies of the nature, scope, and complexity of working on a watershed basis at the local and regional level.
(f) To the extent consistent with the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq.), Division 20.4 (commencing with Section 30901) and Chapter 1.696 (commencing with Section 5096.600) of Division 5, Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000) and Division 26.5 (commencing with Section 79500) of the Water Code, and other statutes and regulations affecting watershed planning and protection, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Resources Agency are encouraged to provide assistance and grants under this chapter in a uniform and predictable manner to those who choose to participate in the important work of watershed restoration and enhancement pursuant to this chapter.
(Added by Stats. 2003, Ch. 693, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)
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