Central Valley
The eight counties of the San Joaquin Valley: San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Kern. Roughly four million people, 62 incorporated cities, and the most agriculturally productive region in the country.
This is a guide to the governments that make decisions here: who they are, when they meet, where to watch them, and how to speak at a meeting.
We track 23 bodies so far, out of an estimated 300 to 500 or more across the region. Every page marks what it has not confirmed rather than filling it in with something plausible.
Start here
| Watch meetings | Every government video channel we have found, live and archived |
| Who governs | The bodies we track, and what each one decides |
| When they meet | Schedules as standing rules, not a stale date list |
| Agendas | Where each body posts them, and how far ahead |
| Minutes and records | Where the official record lives, and how to request more |
| How to speak | Public comment rules, deadlines, and time limits |
| About | What this is right now, stated plainly |
What we track today
23 governing bodies, out of an estimated 300 to 500 or more across the region.
- 8 county boards of supervisors, which is every county in the market
- 8 city councils
- 6 school district boards
- 1 regional agency
Not yet tracked: 54 more incorporated cities, most school districts, every planning commission, the irrigation and water districts, the groundwater sustainability agencies created under SGMA, the councils of governments, the transit districts, and the seven federally recognized tribal governments in the region.
The one thing to know before you plan a visit
All eight county boards meet on Tuesday mornings. Fresno, Kern, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, Merced, Kings, and Madera counties all convene between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. on a Tuesday. There is exactly one regularly scheduled evening county meeting in the entire eight-county market: Stanislaus County sits at 6:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month except July.
If you work a day shift, county government in this region is closed to you 11 months out of 12, and in seven of the eight counties it is closed to you entirely. See when they meet for the sourced detail.
Why this exists
The San Joaquin Valley has among the highest poverty rates in California, the worst air quality in the country, and a shrinking number of reporters covering eight counties of government. Three nonprofit newsrooms work parts of this market already, and none of them can cover 23 bodies, let alone several hundred.
Meanwhile every one of these bodies meets in public, most of them stream it, and almost none of what is said gets written down anywhere searchable.
Verified 2026-08-15. Everything on these pages was checked against the government's own site on that date, and every page says what it has not confirmed. The government's own page is authoritative.