County sustainability manager flags AB 306, dashboard timing and planned succession as key near-term items

John Lundgren, Sacramento County sustainability manager, presented the county’s sustainability update to the Sustainability and Environmental Commission, emphasizing Earth Day outreach, an updated public sustainability dashboard and pending state legislation that could affect local building standards.

"Tomorrow's Earth Day," Lundgren said, noting the county’s participation at Southside Park and planned outreach materials, including a new sustainability dashboard the county expects to refresh for public viewing. He said staff prepared 41 pages of summary updates tied to the Climate Action Plan and that the dashboard will be used for future annual reporting to the Board of Supervisors.

Legislative watch: Assembly Bill 306 and REACH codes Lundgren warned commissioners about Assembly Bill 306, legislation he said is intended to provide relief for communities affected by wildfires but would "prohibit REACH codes for the next six years." He described REACH codes as local building standards that exceed state triennial codes and said those codes were "our number one way of reducing our greenhouse gases outside of carbon farming." Lundgren said the county is monitoring the bill and coordinating with the California State Association of Counties and other stakeholders.

"If that law passes, we would be precluded from adopting any new REACH codes for 6 years," he said, and added this would shift emphasis to incentives, carbon farming and other non-code approaches to reach greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Dashboard and reporting cadence Lundgren said the dashboard is near publication for Earth Day and that the county intends to produce an annual Climate Action Plan progress report to the Board of Supervisors. He explained timing constraints for greenhouse‑gas inventories: electric utility data (PG&E and SMUD) schedules mean inventories are typically produced with a lag, which will affect when the county can publish fully current emissions numbers.

Staffing and succession Lundgren announced he plans to retire in June after roughly 30 years with the county and that the county has opened recruitment for a replacement. He said the position will be filled through civil service and that the first application cut‑off is May 8. "I will have that drive ready to drop into my successor's cloud account," he said, describing a written succession and handover plan.

Other updates He also noted the Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force has one environmental‑justice seat open and that youth membership cycles annually; he encouraged recruitment at Earth Day events.

Ending: Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the dashboard’s public availability and recruitment; Lundgren said the dashboard will be publicly accessible and that recruitment information will be sent to commissioners for dissemination.