The Legislature finds and declares:

(a) The state has been a leader in climate mitigation efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now, and in the coming years, it is critical for California and the global community to continue and intensify those efforts in order to avoid the most severe impacts from a changing climate. However, because the global climate system changes slowly, impacts are ongoing and will inevitably worsen. In order to address the challenges posed by a changing climate, the state must invest in building resiliency and strengthening adaptation efforts at the state, regional, and local levels using the best-available science.

(b) A principle of the state’s adaptation strategy document, Safeguarding California, is to prioritize actions that not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also help the state prepare for climate change impacts. Improved coordination, implementation, and integration of adaptation planning efforts and funding in the state’s climate policies can directly protect the state’s infrastructure, communities, environmental quality, public health, safety and security, natural resources, and economy from the unavoidable impacts of climate change for decades to come.

(c) In order to have a cohesive and comprehensive response to climate change impacts, the state must have integrated planning with coordinated strategies across state, regional, and local governments and agencies.

(d) The office is established as the comprehensive state planning agency that shall engage in the formulation, evaluation, and updating of long-range goals for factors that shape statewide development patterns and significantly influence the quality of the state’s environment, in addition to assisting state, regional, and local agencies in a variety of research and planning efforts, pursuant to Section 65040 of the Government Code. Therefore, the office is well-positioned to work with regional and local entities across the state, coordinating with state climate adaptation strategies.

(e) It is the intent of the Legislature, therefore, that adaptation strategies to build resiliency to the risks and impacts from climate change be integrated in state policies, projects, and permitting processes, and that the office serve as a coordinating body for adaptation projects and goals across California.

(Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 606, Sec. 1. (SB 246) Effective January 1, 2016.)