California Air Resources Board

The Board

The Board leads California’s efforts to reduce air pollution and climate changing emissions, protecting public health from smog, air toxics, and the impacts of a changing climate. Created by the Mulford-Carrell Act, and signed into law by Governor Ronald Reagan in 1967, the Board was given the responsibility to address serious air pollution issues on a statewide basis.

Members of the Board

The California Air Resources Board consists of 16 members, 14 of which are voting members, along with 2 ex officio, non-voting members. One member is selected by the Governor to serve as Chair, and is the only full-time member. The Governor may choose any of the Board members to serve as the Chair.

Members of the Board meet specific criteria for their positions and are appointed as follows:

Leadership Meeting Request

Board Member Terms

AB 197, passed in 2016, established six-years terms for the 14 voting Board members, with the exception of initial staggered terms to provide an orderly transition to full fixed terms. The initial staggered terms expire as follows:

December 31, 2018: 3 members
December 31, 2020: 5 members
December 31, 2022: 6 members

Once appointed, Board members cannot be replaced by the appointing authority unless they no longer meet the requirements of the position, for example no longer being a member of a specific Air Pollution Control District.

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Authority of Board

The Board’s rulemaking authority follows the requirements of California’s Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (Government Code section 11340 et seq.) and regulations adopted by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). In general, the rulemaking process begins with initial enabling law, passed by the California legislature and signed by the Governor. The legislature may create laws with very specific requirements, or draft laws establishing overall goals and objectives that are achieved by specific actions developed by the Board’s public rulemaking process. The Board develops these regulations following the requirements of the Administrative Policy Act, and related public meeting laws, to adopt the specific actions required to carry out the responsibilities of the original law.

As a final step, all regulations adopted by the Board are reviewed by the California Office of Administrative Law to ensure compliance with the original enabling legislation and public participation and notice requirements. In addition, many actions of the Board also require the granting of a Waiver from the United States Environmental Protection Agency before they can take effect. The granting of the waiver requires California to demonstrate the greater effectiveness of its regulation over existing federal law, and the need for more stringent actions or standards to address the states severe air quality problem.