The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) A thriving in-state forest products sector provides public benefits, including employment opportunities in both rural and urban areas, and economic development for rural communities.
(b) Enabling continued economically viable production of forest products can help to protect the state’s forest lands from conversion to other uses.
(c) The state’s forest practice regulations provide for environmental protection of the state’s air, water, habitat, and soil resources.
(d) Consumers of wood products in the state currently do not directly pay for the state’s forest practice program and the costs of protecting the state’s natural resources.
(e) Current in-state producers of wood products already bear a significant cost of conforming with the state’s environmental laws, which economically disadvantages those producers relative to out-of-state production.
(f) Conforming with the state’s environmental laws ensures that wildlife, habitat, clean air, forest, and water quality receive some protection.
(Added by Stats. 2012, Ch. 289, Sec. 3. (AB 1492) Effective September 11, 2012.)