The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The provision of basic social welfare and public health programs by counties is a matter of statewide interest.
(b) In some cases, the costs of these programs have grown more quickly than the counties’ own general purpose revenues.
(c) A county should not be required to drastically divert its own general purpose revenues from other public programs in order to pay for basic social welfare and public health programs.
(d) California residents should not be denied the benefits of these programs because counties are hampered by a severe lack of funds for these purposes.
(e) Accordingly, it is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter to protect the public peace, health, and safety by stabilizing counties’ revenues.