Amador County, CA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Despite its rural Sierra foothill setting, unincorporated Amador County does not have a general dark-sky or outdoor-lighting ordinance regulating fixture shielding or color temperature countywide. A proposed lighting ordinance would have required new or replacement outdoor light fixtures in the unincorporated area to use warmer color temperatures, point downward rather than up or out, and avoid spilling light onto adjacent properties. The Amador County Planning Commission approved that proposal on a 4-1 vote in March 2020, but the Board of Supervisors rejected it 3-2 at a public hearing on August 11, 2020, so it never took effect. As a result, there is currently no county fixture-shielding or color-temperature mandate for general outdoor lighting in the unincorporated area. Some specific lighting controls do appear in the zoning code for particular sign types; for example, certain identification and bed-and-breakfast signs in Section 19.32.010 must use shielded, non-flashing lighting aimed at the sign and shielded from neighboring properties, and announcement-board illumination is limited to the hours from sunset to 10 p.m. Statewide, California's Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency Standards regulate outdoor lighting power and controls for new construction, and the California Building Standards Code applies to permitted projects. Individual incorporated cities, such as Jackson, maintain their own lighting regulations, but those do not apply to unincorporated county land.