The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:
(a) Excessive noise is a serious hazard to the public health and welfare.
(b) Exposure to certain levels of noise can result in physiological, psychological, and economic damage.
(c) There is a continuous and increasing bombardment of noise in the urban, suburban, and rural areas.
(d) Government has not taken the steps necessary to provide for the control, abatement, and prevention of unwanted and hazardous noise.
(e) The State of California has a responsibility to protect the health and welfare of its citizens by the control, prevention, and abatement of noise.
(f) All Californians are entitled to a peaceful and quiet environment without the intrusion of noise which may be hazardous to their health or welfare.
(g) It is the policy of the state to provide an environment for all Californians free from noise that jeopardizes their health or welfare. To that end it is the purpose of this division to establish a means for effective coordination of state activities in noise control and to take such action as will be necessary to achieve the purposes of this section.
(Added by Stats. 1975, Ch. 957.)