Employer Profile

The California Legislature created the Air District in 1955 as the first regional air pollution control agency in the country. The Air District is tasked with regulating stationary sources of air pollution in the nine counties that surround San Francisco Bay: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, southwestern Solano, and southern Sonoma counties. It is governed by a 24-member Board of Directors composed of locally elected officials from each of the nine Bay Area counties, with the number of board members from each county being proportionate to its population.

The Board oversees policies and adopts regulations for the control of air pollution within the district. The Board also appoints the Air District's Executive Officer/Air Pollution Control Officer, who implements these policies and gives direction to staff, as well as the District Counsel, who manages the legal affairs of the agency. The Air District consists of over 340 dedicated staff members, including engineers, inspectors, planners, scientists, and other professionals.

The Air District is assisted by an Advisory Council that provides input to the Board and the Executive Officer on air quality matters and a Hearing Board. The Hearing Board is an independent, five-member body that serves to adjudicate regulatory compliance issues that may arise between the Air District and local industries and also hears appeals of permitting decisions made by the Executive Officer.

Mission
The Air District improves air quality to protect public health, reduce historical and current environmental inequities, and mitigate climate change and its impacts.

Core Values

Transparency
We are dedicated to full transparency toward holding ourselves accountable for our decisions and actions.

Partnership
We value our partners, fostering meaningful collaboration both internally and externally to achieve shared objectives.

Environmental Justice
We will integrate environmental justice principles within all aspects of our work, and we seek enhanced environmental justice outcomes for overburdened communities.

Equity
We commit to equity and ensuring that our organizational culture fosters a diverse workforce that reflects our communities.

Trust
We gain public trust by grounding our programs and policies in law, science, and the lived experience of our communities.

Integrity
We lead with integrity, serving as honest and responsible stewards of public resources, grounding our actions in law and science, and pioneering effective and innovative solutions in partnership with the communities we serve.