Air Quality
The Air Quality Team advocates for better air quality through the lens of improving public health and promoting economic growth.
Civic Amenities
Business in the Sacramento Region thrives on a talented and diverse work force and an expanding and robust customer base. Workers and customers alike want to live in a place with a full and diverse slate of quality civic assets and amenities. Using a “Study Mission” style format, the Civic Amenities Team explores how to activate public spaces such as art installations, gardens, or peaceful spaces and how they can be an integral part of the commerce to make our region the best place to live, work and thrive in the nation.
Community Resources
The Community Resources team advocates to increase funding and flexibility, which will streamline delivery across major federal homeless and housing programs to address our region’s dire housing crisis and rising homelessness.
Economic Development
The Economic Development Team advocates for the health of our regional economy by creating innovative partnerships and programs that attract funding and investment to support inclusive business development.
Flood Protection
The Sacramento Region remains one of the most flood-prone in the Nation. To reduce this risk, there is continued need for federal investment, especially in rural areas and disadvantaged communities. This team ensures federal investment decisions give fair consideration of comprehensive benefits for all communities in light of environmental justice principles and support mitigating risk by advocating to change FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program to better support California’s agricultural industry, drive the economy, and provide food for the country.
Food & Agriculture
The Food and Ag team advocates to ensure the Sacramento region continues to invest and build upon its existing foundation for a resilient food system. We work to ensure legislation that includes investments for strengthening institutional procurement, reducing food and nutrition insecurity, removing barriers to federal programs, and expanding food system infrastructure such as food hubs and incubators. Our success will increase farmer and producer access to new markets.
Healthcare
The Healthcare teams works with legislators to protect the financial solvency of our region’s providers, address workforce burnout and shortages, expand access to mental and behavioral health services, embrace telehealth beyond 2024, continue support for the 340 B program and stabilize Medicare reimbursement.
Land Use and Natural Resources
The Sacramento region is one of the fastest growing areas in the United States, with a high quality of life and housing cost options that are more reasonable than coastal alternatives. Construction of infrastructure, critical flood protection facilities, housing of all types and retail centers and business parks are affected by the Corps of Engineers’ permit processes. We seek to clarify and simplify the processes that allow the Region to continue and improve its path to smart growth.
Public Safety
Regional public safety entities and the Federal Government share a common goal of helping ensure that our communities are safe. Emerging technology can drastically improve safety for first responders and the public alike, but the laws have not evolved as fast as these technologies, such as drones or unmanned Arial Systems (UAS). Further, there is a vital need for funding improvements to our emergency communication services, and investments into workforce development and technological advancements. Through strategic partnerships, grants and funding opportunities, and an increase in collaboration, we can accomplish these goals and that’s what this team advocates to achieve.
Transportation
The Sacramento Region relies on major interstate freeways, passenger and cargo airports, freight and passenger rail lines, light rail, an inland port, transit systems, and human service transportation programs. A key player in the national economy, the region requires a multi-modal transportation system that balances freeway, street, rail, air, and transit to move goods, services, and people throughout. This team advocates for Federal support to further strengthen the Sacramento Region’s goods movement infrastructure which will pay dividends in fostering economic growth.
Water Resources
This team advocates for support for water resources infrastructure investment critical to the Sacramento Region. Over the last number of years California has experienced “weather whiplash”, oscillating between heavy rain and snow events to severe droughts, and even setting new records of extreme wet and dry periods in the same year. Managing our water resources has become an incredible challenge. The existing water system that was built in the 20th century does not meet the test of 21st century weather. Without our advocacy leading to adaptation, that system will be overwhelmed by the wet periods and incapable of withstanding longer, hotter, dry periods.
Wildfire & Forest Health
This is the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s newest team based upon the impacts that wildfires have brought to our quality of life in the Sacramento region and beyond.
Wildfire was one of three priority issues for the 2023 Cap-to-Cap program; this year it is being elevated as a standalone team to cover the cross-cutting issues that wildfire and forest health present.
The focus of issues will be public health, public safety, forest land management, and workforce within these arenas. Policies and funding will be advocated in support of prescribed fire, community resilience, air quality, and the use of biomass removed from our nearby forests. The team will also focus on bolstering firefighting capacity and restoration of lands that have succumbed to megafire. Given the cross-cutting interests of wildfire and forest health, there will be an intergovernmental approach to policy and funding priorities advocated by this team.
The US Forest Service Ten-year Strategy and the report from the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission, authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, will be used to align policy and funding priorities of this team.
Workforce and Education
The Sacramento Region is a diverse community of more than 2.5 million people with major industries in healthcare, agriculture and technology. Seamless transitions between systems are needed, and accelerated pace of change within occupations and industries requires investment in rapid training, retraining, and certification programs to meet industry demand for skilled workers. Additionally, removing unnecessary regulatory barriers and administrative burdens allows for responsive and flexible learning models to meet the diverse needs of students, jobseekers, and employers. This team focuses on advocacy to affect this change.