The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Airports help to link local, regional, statewide, national, and global economic activities. Airports are also essential features of comprehensive transportation systems, that include streets and highways, rail transit, transit over water, and mass transit.

(b) It is essential to the public health, safety, and welfare that airports be developed and operated in the San Diego County region so that those airports promote economic development, protect environmental quality, and enhance social equity.

(c) The significant regional consequences of airport planning, development, and operations require the creation of a regional airport authority.

(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 83, Sec. 1. (AB 1058) Effective January 1, 2014.)