Capitol Weekly Podcast

This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Crime which was held in Sacramento on Thursday, March 21, 2024 This is PANEL 1 – RETAIL THEFT Panelists: Asm. Rick Zbur; Eric Brown, Office of Governor Newsom; Cristine Soto DeBerry, Prosecutors Alliance; Rachel Michelin, California Retailers Association Moderated by Lindsey Holden, Sacramento Be...

This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Crime which was held in Sacramento on Thursday, March 21, 2024 This is the KEYNOTE – SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY BROOKE JENKINS Introduction by Rich Ehisen, Capitol Weekly Find a full transcript here: https://capitolweekly.net/special-episode-a-conference-on-crime-keynote-brooke-jenkins/ Want...

Our guest today, Larissa May, has become one of the leading voices in California and across the country in the quest for young people to have a healthier relationship with social media and the digital world in general. May came to this work through her own traumatic experiences as a young person overwhelmed by social media. Mays is the founder of #halfthestory, which works with schools, state and...

California has set ambitious climate goals, including phasing out the use of fossil fuels and becoming carbon neutral by 2045. Our guest today is here to talk about the role nature can play in meeting those goals.  Laurie Wayburn is the co-founder and president of the Pacific Forest Trust and the chair of the California Natural and Working Lands Expert Advisory Committee. She was also the lead aut...

Our guest today is Assembly Speaker Emeritus Anthony Rendon . Rendon joined us for a fascinating conversation that looked back over his seven year tenure as Speaker, through some of the most turbulent times in the state's history, and forward, as he outlined his goals for the remainder of his time in office. In an in-depth and roaming conversation that ranged from the Water Bond to Waiting for God...

Everyone's favorite California politics data guru Paul Mitchell joins us to talk about California's March 5 Primary. With the Presidential primaries all but wrapped, what was expected to be a high-stakes, high profile March election appears to generating yawns from CA voters. Based on the pace of returned ballots, experts are predicting a historically low turnout: What does that mean for the four...

Michael Weinstein is the president of the LA-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a sprawling international nonprofit with the stated mission of providing its 1.5 million global clients with “cutting-edge medicine and advocacy regardless of ability to pay.” Weinstein is also the driving force behind several statewide ballot measures, including two previously failed attempts to implement statewide ren...

Our guest today is one of the most accomplished figures in recent California political history. The first person in 150 years to lead both chambers of the Legislature, as well as being the first woman - and the first openly LGBTQ  woman - to do so at all. If she succeeds in her latest political quest, she would become California's first woman Governor. Of course we are talking about Sen. pro Tem E...

Our guest today is Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, a longtime advocate for increased availability of mental healthcare. While a member of the state Assembly Steinberg authored Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act, which has generated millions for mental healthcare in California. Steinberg was elected to the Senate in 2006 and became Pro Tem in 2008.  In 2015 he launched The Steinberg...

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Over the course of several Capitol Weekly stories this month, reporter Brian Joseph explores the nuances of this horrific crime, its cultural influences and possible reform options. He joined us today to talk about "The Life", the intersection of Pimp culture and Pop culture, Sen. Shannon Grove's SB 14, one of last year’s most controversial b...

We are joined today by communications expert Nathan Click of Click Strategies. Click serves as a political advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom and led communications efforts in the Governor's successful campaign against the Recall; he is also active in ballot campaigns. He has previously served as the governor's Communications Director, worked on Sen. Hirono's staff in DC and on then-Attorney General Kam...

Veteran California political data expert Paul Mitchell joins us to talk about his recent CA120 column examining shifting behavior by California's Latino and Asian voters. Turns out that Asian voters are becoming more Democratic while Latinos move slightly toward the GOP. We also look at California's confusing Presidential Primary ballot, and the recent Berkeley IGS Poll that found Rep. Barbara Lee...

As California stares down the largest budget deficit in a decade, lawmakers - most of whom have never governed during a down time - will be facing hard choices. Labor lobbyist Kristina Bas Hamilton remembers the rough days of the Great Recession, and sat down with us to talk about what this go round might be like, and how it will differ from the past.  She also talks with us about her podcast, and...

For our final episode of 2023 we've got a big show with three special segments:  First up, hosts Rich Ehisen and Tim Foster talk with Sammy Perez of Prison Fellowship to learn about the Angel Tree Program, which gives incarcerated parents a way to provide a Christmas gift and a personal message for their children. Perez, who spent nearly a decade in prison, shares the importance of family connecti...

KQED's Marisa Lagos joins us for a look back at the biggest stories of the past year. Lagos is a correspondent for KQED’s California Politics and Government Desk and co-hosts a weekly show and podcast, Political Breakdown. We discuss Governor Newsom's year, hot labor Summer, the success of the YIMBY movement, the death of Dianne Feinstein and arrival of Laphonza Butlerr, and much, much more.  Plus...

A new survey from the Public Policy Institute of California finds that many Californians no longer believe the American Dream holds true, or believe that the dream is harder to achieve in California than in other states. We're joined by Dean Bonner, associate survey director and research fellow at PPIC, to talk about the results of the survey, how they compare to earlier iterations, and about the...

Just a few years ago, people following California public policy news were the beneficiaries of what was in retrospect an online media renaissance: Joining traditional legacy media, new sites like CalMatters and Politico California offered greatly expanded capitol coverage, and a whole series of newsletters and other aggregators devoted to California government and politics made tracking news easie...

This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023 This is the KEYNOTE – CALIFORNIA SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION TONY THURMOND Introduction by Rich Ehisen, Capitol Weekly Find a full transcript here: https://capitolweekly.net/education-policy-tony-thurmond-superint...

This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023 This is Panel 3 – LOOK AHEAD: BALLOT MEASURES AND LEGISLATION PANELISTS: Michael Borges, California Teachers Association; Christina Laster, Bold Enterprises LLC; Scott Richards, Teach For America Moderated by Rich Ehisen,...

This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023 This is Panel 2 – THE ROLE OF SCHOOL BOARDS PANELISTS:Amy Christianson,  California School Boards Association; Marshall Tuck,  EdVoice; Richard Zeiger,  Zeiger Strategies Moderated by Dan Morain for Capitol Weekly Find a f...

This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. This is Panel 1 – TEACHER SHORTAGE AND OTHER CHALLENGES. PANELISTS: Heather J. Hough, Policy Analysis for California Education, Stanford University; Katie Hardeman, California Teachers Association; David Schapira, Califor...

Loretta Lynch is fired up. The former President of the California Public Utilities Commission is sounding the alarm on a proposed change to California's commercial electricity providers' rate structure that, she says, will dramatically increase rates for electricity customers. AB 205 easily passed the legislature and was signed by the Governor as a Budget Trailer Bill back in the summer of 2022. I...

Former legislator Phil Isenberg died last week after a brief illness. Isenberg wore many hats in his life: Mayor of Sacramento, Assemblymember, Vice Chair of the Delta Stewardship Council, and husband to Marilyn Araki Isenberg. But for all that, perhaps his biggest legacy will be as a supporter of - and enthusiast for - the arts. Dan Morain covered Isenberg for decades and penned an obit for Capit...

We are joined today by Jenn Bowles of the Water Education Foundation, or WEF. WEF was founded in 1977, in the midst of a deep drought, to facilitate a better understanding of water resource issues in California and the West, and to give context to the challenges facing California's most precious natural resource. Now, nearly five decades later, we are just emerging from the latest drought period t...

We're joined today by Democratic Senator Steve Glazer , who represents SD7 in the Bay Area. While Glazer was first elected to the senate in a 2015 Special Election, he has been engaged in politics for four decades, including stints working for Gray Davis, Chief Justice Rose Bird , and two stints - thirty years apart - for Governor Jerry Brown . Glazer is the only California senator to host own pod...