Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG)

Agency Type:

• Council of Governments
• Metropolitan Planning Organization
• Regional Transportation Planning Agency

Responsibilities:

• Airport Land Use Plan
• Regional Housing Needs Assessment
• Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies

Overview:

The Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for a six county region.  SACOG provides transportation planning and funding for the region, and serves as a forum for the study and resolution of regional issues.  Two of the counties–El Dorado and Placer–have their own transportation planning agencies that work with SACOG to produce transportation planning and programming documents (and within these two counties is the Tahoe basin and TRPA).  SACOG serves as the Regional Transportation Planning Agency (RTPA) for the other four counties: Sacramento, Yolo, Sutter and Yuba.

As the COG, SACOG develops the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) in the region.  Additionally, SACOG assists in planning for transit, bicycle networks, clean air and airport land uses.

Total Members:

28: six counties and 22 cities

Population Represented:

2,578,590

Staff:

60

Program Highlights:

• Sacramento Regional Blueprint–Back in 2004, SACOG produced a regional blueprint that was truly innovative.  It’s worth revisiting the website dedicated to the plan.   It formed the basis for the regional transportation plan and key elements were eventually incorporated into state law in SB 375.  SACOG continues to be a leader in scenario forecasting and modeling which forms the basis for making transportation investment decisions that will serve the future transportation needs of the SACOG Region.

Related Stories:

Board Makeup:

The Board of Directors is comprised of 31 members.  Each of the 22 cities gets one vote, except the City of Sacramento, which has two votes (total of 23 votes from cities).  Each of the six counties gets one vote, except Sacramento County, which gets three votes (eight votes from counties).  In addition, the Director of Caltrans District three may sit as an ex-officio member who may participate in discussions and place items on the agenda, but not vote.  Section 5.8 of SACOG’s joint powers agreement provides that action by the board requires an affirmative vote by three measures: a county majority (majority of members present and representing counties), a city majority (majority of city members present and representing cities), and a population majority (majority of the represented population whose members are present and voting).

Executive Director:

James Corless

CALCOG Board Representative:

Michael Saragosa, Mayor, City of Placerville

Web Link:

https://www.sacog.org/