Local and State Policy Platform

The Policy Platform includes nine issue areas, with a limited number of focused objectives. The goal of our Policy Platform is to establish a focused framework for developing and responding to local, state and national issues that positively or adversely affect our community and our members. The Metro Chamber uses its Policy Platform to inform communication with elected leaders and members, and to guide its engagement on community efforts.

We support policies that encourage and enable businesses to locate, expand, and prosper in our community. These policies should be designed to ensure that local existing businesses, diverse startups, and businesses of all sizes have access to the resources, opportunities and workforce they need to innovate and sustainably grow. We believe a strong business community, and economy is one which enables a thriving community and prosperity for all. ...READ THE FOCUSED OBJECTIVES

...READ THE FOCUSED OBJECTIVES

A vibrant downtown is crucial in recruiting a high-quality workforce and for existing and new business development, providing recreation and retail opportunities for residents, and providing attractions for tourism. Investment downtown represents an opportunity to generate lasting benefits including thriving employers and access to good jobs, environmentally sustainable development, and increased tax revenue. Economic studies conducted by the City of Santa Rosa demonstrate the highest tax return and property value are in the city’s downtown areas, providing the highest economic return on investment. Creating a destination for residents and visitors alike in the downtown core can boost economic activity and vibrancy. This includes expanded public art, enhanced pedestrian level lighting, walkable spaces including temporarily closing streets for pedestrian access and expanded commerce, downtown safety, and incentives for businesses providing services and activities in the downtown core that enhance downtown vitality. ...READ THE FOCUSED OBJECTIVES

Our housing crisis is the greatest threat to our long-term economic, business, and cultural success. The Chamber will advocate for incentives and opportunities that create more housing of diverse types at all market levels and will organize the private sector to support new housing development at all market levels. Crisis after crisis has exposed how fragile our housing infrastructure is to economic fluctuations. Without significantly expanding housing supply for our residents, housing scarcity and housing costs will continue to be an overwhelming burden to many and make future disasters more acutely painful for our community. We support housing policies to improve the time, certainty, and cost of housing development by streamlining and reducing the cost of the entitlement and permitting processes, including increasing by right development opportunities, easing zoning constraints, increasing ministerial review opportunities, and decreasing subjective input to and unfunded mandates on housing developments to meet our local and regional housing needs. ...READ THE FOCUSED OBJECTIVES

The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and require that multiple levels of support be made available. Our region needs a comprehensive strategy as well as a commitment to, and regional collaboration on, a strategic homelessness plan. We support policies, partnerships, and funding to increase our stock of housing for low- and extremely-low-income individuals and families. We support safe and structured short- and long-term interim solutions to the homelessness challenges that are having a negative impact on our entire community. ...READ THE FOCUSED OBJECTIVES

The extraordinary quality of the physical environment of our region is critical to the quality of life we enjoy. It also underpins various sectors of our local economy, particularly our tourism and recreation industries. Successful resiliency planning requires that we include our region’s energy and natural resources including awareness of threats and opportunities. The droughts and fires we have experienced in recent years highlight the need to use our natural resources in a manner that is sustainable in the long-term and to promote land use and management practices and building codes that minimize the impact of natural disasters. Moreover, based on the experience of Sonoma County in combination with the experience of Mendocino, Lake, and Napa Counties, it has become clear over the last several years that natural disasters have become a part of living in this region. This fact underscores the need for preparedness, response, and mitigation as ongoing efforts rather than one-off projects. ...READ THE FOCUSED OBJECTIVES

We support investments that will strengthen access to quality early child care, early education, and K-12 education; that address the teacher shortage; and that align postsecondary programs with employer needs, including a focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and CTE (career technical education) opportunities. CTE opportunities for students are crucial to integrate real world examples and opportunities that help all students graduate from high school college- and career-ready. ...READ THE FOCUSED OBJECTIVES

Over the past few years, there have been many significant improvements to our transportation infrastructure, and funding is now in place to properly maintain and upgrade our long-neglected roads; however, there is ongoing work to be done. Investment in and maintenance of our transportation systems are critical for the health and growth of our economy. We support transportation policies and funding that increase mobility, relieve congestion, and expand alternative commute options. We support continued improvement to the collaboration between agencies to improve the overall transportation system, including connectors between different modes of public transportation, while making our region more competitive for funding opportunities. ...READ THE FOCUSED OBJECTIVES

Sonoma County’s allure as a global destination for high-end wines, craft beer, outdoor recreation, and cutting-edge cuisine is a critical component of the region’s ongoing economic success. Large employers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs all rely on the strength of the local tourism economy, which generated $1.97 billion spent by visitors to Sonoma County in 2021, and also provides amenities and recreation opportunities for locals. While Sonoma County has a diverse economy, tourism is foundational to it. Investment in the industry, the arts, and in special events must be encouraged to help the industry continue to recover as quickly as possible, and will play a critical role in our local, regional, and state level economic success. ...READ THE FOCUSED OBJECTIVES