Senator Sheila Kuehl, a newly appoint Board Member of the California Integrated Waste Management Board, has written an essay describing the need for public boards to oversee state programs. Senator Kuehl argues that state boards, like the CIWMB, CARB, and SWRCB, are essential to guarantee that laws designed to protect the environment and public safety are consistently enforced, regardless of political shifts within the executive branch.

"As we have seen in the federal system, enforcement of statutes related to the environment or financial markets can suffer from political interference and become criminally lax without an independent body asking the right questions, formulating the policies and making certain that regulations, permits, licenses, and solutions to problems that arise in enforcement are dealt with in a transparent and timely manner.  State Boards in California were established to provide this oversight." Read more.