SacTown Talks

Today we welcome Nicole Rice, President of the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition (CNGVC). We discuss her time in Sacramento, CNGVC as an organization, the transition to renewable natural gas, and more. SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy, and culture. We feature interviews with California political leaders and analyses by experts and insiders focusing on the Capitol...

Today we welcome State Senator Tom Umberg. Umberg represents the 34th district. We discuss his work throughout the last year, combating crime as it pertains to catalytic converter theft, MICRA, fentanyl awareness, CARE courts, and more. SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature interviews with California political leaders, and analysis by experts and insi...

Today we welcome Assemblymember Cristina Garcia. Garcia represents the 58th district and is the chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus. We discuss her run for Congress, overcoming the challenges within her community, the bills that she has introduced in the CA State Assembly, and more. SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature interviews with California...

Today we welcome State Senate candidate, Nicole Parra. Nicole is a former California Assemblymember, running in the 16th Senate District. We discuss her run for State Senator, overcoming challenges with water in the 16th district, her experience in politics, and more. SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature interviews with California political leaders,...

Today we welcome to SacTown Talks, Dr. Eugene Allen. Allen is a doctor, activist, family man, community leader, and is running for Insurance Commissioner 2022. Today, we discuss Dr. Allen's focus, community work, and his campaign for California Insurance Commissioner. SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature interviews with California political leaders,...

Today we welcome to SacTown Talks, Chris Micheli. Micheli is a Principal at Aprea & Micheli, Inc. and Adjunct Professor at McGeorge School of Law. As a lobbyist, attorney, author, and professor, Micheli has many great stories and plenty of wisdom to share. Today, we discuss Micheli's experiences, the current challenges in lobbying, his reputation as an expert in tax lobbying, his most recent book,...

Today we welcome Assemblymember Tom Lackey of the 36th Assembly District, encompassing Antelope Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, and Palmdale. Before his work in the political space, Mr. Lackey was a special education teacher and a member of the California Highway Patrol for 28 years. He then ran for his local school board, then Palmdale City Council, and finally the Assembly in 2014. We discuss redi...

Today we welcome Tim Sparapani, a constitutional law advocate and Senior Policy Fellow at CALinnovates, to discuss the past, present, and future of Proposition 22. Tim takes us on a journey from the Dynamex Decision to AB 5 to Proposition 22 to the appeals court decision. Learn more today about Prop. 22.   SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature intervi...

Today our guest is Rick Goddard, CEO of Caylym, who joins us to discuss their Guardian system. The Guardian creates a raindrop effect over the target area and using a standard cargo plane, crews can drop over 4,000 gallons every 10 minutes from the air 24 hours a day. This means firefighting does not have to stop at night due to low visibility or in higher wind conditions. He discusses how the Gua...

Today we welcome Assemblymember Christopher Ward of the 78th Assembly District, covering the San Diego coast. He joins us for an in depth look at AB 1771: The California Housing Speculation Act, which would impose a tax up to 25% on an investor’s net capital gain from the time of purchase until the final sale or exchange of a property to reduce housing speculation. We also discuss his background,...

Welcome back for part 2 of our SacTown Talks episode with Paul Mitchell. Paul is an expert on California redistricting: he founded Redistricting Partners, Inc and is the VP of Political Data Intelligence. Today’s episode cover’s the details of California’s lost congressional seat, more details on how redistricting requirements work, what communities of interest are, why California’s redistricting...

Today we welcome California Senator Melissa Hurtado of the 14th Senate District which covers parts of the southern Central Valley between Fresno and Bakersfield. She joins us to discuss the water, bureaucracy, and California’s future. Her bill, SB 1219, would establish a blue-ribbon commission to eliminate the State Water Resources Control Board and fundamentally change how California and its agen...

Today on the show we have another new face in Sacramento: Dr. Akilah Weber of the 79th Assembly District, which covers much of east San Diego and its suburbs. Dr. Weber is the daughter of California Secretary of State Shirley Weber but did not have politics as a career goal instead, she became an OBGYN until a hometown civil rights issue inspired her to run for city council. And when Governor News...

Today we welcome California Assemblymember Mia Bonta to the show. Mia won a race in California’s 18th Assembly District covering Oakland and Alameda County to replace her partner, Rob Bonta, who was appointed California Attorney General. We discuss her family story and background in education, what led her to run for school board and then the assembly, and how it’s been coming to Sacramento during...

Today we welcome California State Senator Sydney Kamlager, of the 30th Senate District which covers Century City to South Los Angeles and takes in Culver City, Cheviot Hills, Crenshaw District, USC, downtown Los Angeles, and a portion of Inglewood. She discusses her eclectic road to the legislature, the differences between the assembly and senate, how working in the arts made her a better communic...

Today we welcome San Francisco Supervisor and candidate for the California Assembly Matt Haney. Matt joins us in the thick of his campaign and talks about how he got into politics, why he’s running for the assembly, and what he’s been hearing on the campaign trail about the pandemic, housing, and homelessness.   SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature i...

Today we welcome California State Senator Bill Dodd, representing the 3rd Senate District covering east to west from Petaluma to West Sacramento, and north to south Woodland to Martinez. Our most frequent guest, Senator Dodd joins us to discuss his major issues including fire prevention funding, eliminating feral pigs, expanding Highway 37, sports betting and much more. Stick around for the end fo...

Today our interview is with James Coleman, South San Francisco City Councilmember, and candidate for the new Assembly District 21. We discuss how an early family tragedy shaped the course of his life and led to his interest in government, how covid forced him to leave Harvard during his junior year and inspired him to work for political change, and run for and win a city council seat. Then he disc...

Today we welcome California State Senator Nancy Skinner of the 9th California Senate District, which covers the eastern San Francisco Bay. Nancy has been in elected office since she became the only University of California, Berkeley student to win a city council seat as a student. She also served in the California Assembly in the late 2000s so she has the perspective from when budget negotiations...

Dr. Marty Ralph, Director, Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography joins us to kick off 2022 by discussing his research into atmospheric rivers, the long narrow bands of concentrated water vapor that produce major amounts of rainfall. We discuss how they relate to El Nino, La Nina, and last year’s bomb cyclone, and how his research is help...

Happy Holidays from SacTown Talks! We're taking a couple of weeks to recharge and refresh the show for 2022. While we're gone please enjoy some clips from the past year. And if any of you are joining the bread baking cohort before the New Year make sure to check out the end of the pod!  SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature interviews with California...

Happy Holidays from SacTown Talks! We're taking a couple of weeks to recharge and refresh the show for 2022. While we're gone please enjoy some clips from the past year. And if any of you are joining the bread baking cohort before the New Year make sure to check out the end of the pod!  SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature interviews with California...

Today we welcome Senator Maria Elena Durazo to the last interview of the year! She grew up in a migrant farmworker family and spent decades in the leadership of labor unions. Inspired to run by the 2016 election today she discusses those beginnings, her legislation focused on workers dignity and health, water infrastructure and much more!     SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, p...

SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature interviews with California political leaders, and analysis by experts and insiders focusing on the Capitol. Like, share, and subscribe to learn more!