SacTown Talks

Today we welcome two experts from the California Budget & Policy Center, Monica Davalos and Adriana Ramos-Yamamoto, to discuss the recently released Budget Center report urging  California policymakers to declare racism as a public health crisis. We explore why they think this is necessary and how racism affects housing, the environment,  employment, health care, the justice system, and education....

Our guest this week is former Assemblymember Man Gatto and we do a deep dive on Bitcoin, blockchain, and all things cryptocurrency!  We discuss the murky origins, why the price has risen so much, how cryptocurrency works, and what the future might be.  SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy, and culture. We feature interviews with California political leaders and analysis by...

Today’s interview is with Dr. Micah Weinberg of California Forward. We discuss a multitude of issues facing California, including broadband for all, wildfire prevention, housing and homelessness, and why California should spend one-time expenditures on things that can pay dividends in the future. SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature interviews with C...

Today’s interview is with California Senator Bob Wieckowksi. This episode features a lot from climate policy from wildfire preventions and recycling, to cap and trade and carbon sequestration. We also discuss his bills on arbitration and why he thinks every high school student will have a summer job in forest management in the future.  SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy a...

Today we interview California Senator Steven Bradford where he discusses his work as the Chairman of the Black Legislative Caucus, why California needed a Committee on Reparations and updates on his priorities for the legislative session.   SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and culture. We feature interviews with California political leaders and analysis by experts and i...

Today we have a powerful episode. We are excited to have the first California Native American elected to the Legislature, Assemblymember James Ramos. He discussed how he got to elected office, how more native people can be elected, how California needs to understand its past to fully embrace the diversity of its future, how tribal governance prepared him for the California legislature and more!  B...

Today we welcome Julie Baker, Executive Director of Californians for the Arts. Julie explains how badly hit the arts were by the pandemic, why the California government needs to communicate clear guidelines for reopening, and proposals to help fund California arts to survive and create a cultural Roaring Twenties going forward.  SacTown Talks is a podcast about California politics, policy and cult...

Today we welcome Congressional Candidate Nicole Parra. Nicole is a former California Assemblymember running in the 21st Congressional District, which covers 4 counties in the Central Valley. We discuss her time in the Assembly, her bipartisan approach to politics, why she started her campaign so early, and why she thinks she's the right person to fight for the Central Valley.  SacTown Talks is a p...

We welcome our most frequent legislative guest Senator Bill Dodd of the 3rd Senate District, covering parts of Napa and five other counties. We start by discussing his new clean look, then segue into the serious topics of wildfire prevention and protection in 2021, including his new bill for an Office of Wildfire Technology and Research, how the state should manage our water resources, and his hop...

The Rose Bowl parade, how his office is working with the governor's office to communicate with the public, how the assembly will be able to function more smoothly this year because of covid-related planning and budget priorities will be focused on vaccines, and opening up both CA schools and the economy more generally. Then they turn to his work as chairman of the Utilities and Energy Committee wh...

Sactown Talks is about more than policy and politics, it’s also about the culture of the Capitol community. So today we bring you something a little different: an interview with Ryan Hammonds of R. Douglas Custom Clothiers. R. Douglas is blocks from the Capitol, and well known among the more sartorially inclined. Today he and Jarrett discuss how he got into the custom suit game, how his business h...

This week we interview Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the President of the Western States Petroleum Association. WSPA is a non-profit trade association representing the companies in five Western states – California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, and Oregon. She joins us to discuss the complicated nature of modern energy policy in the age of climate change, and what California can and should do going forwar...

This week we have Assembly Sharon Quirk-Silva of the 65th assembly district. The 65th covers northern Orange county centered around the city of Fullerton and also includes the amusement parks Knott’s Berry Farms and Disneyland. We begin by discussing the events in Washington, D.C. on January 6th, with her calling it “an assault on democracy,” reminding her of the 2019 anti-vaxxer protest but assur...

Today’s guest is Assemblymember Laura Friedman who represents the 43rd Assembly District covering Glendale and the eastern part of the San Fernando Valley. She is a returning guest so we just touch on her past and how she moved from the film industry into politics, first at the city level in Glendale and then to the assembly. Then we discuss her new committee chairpersonship of the Transportation...

Welcome to a holiday edition of SacTown Talks. Today we are bringing you a slightly different type of show. One of the major issues confronting the legislature in 2021 is broadband access. This isn’t a new issue but exacerbated by the pandemic, has taken on new relevance and urgency. Listeners of this podcast have been hearing about it for the past six months as legislators have expressed the need...

We welcome Assemblymember Cristina Garcia of the 58th Assembly District to the program. The 58th district covers southeast Los Angeles County, including her hometown of Bell Gardens. We start quickly, jumping right in with a discussion of AB 1, how she got the first bill of the new session together, why reforming the department of toxic substances control is important, and why she thinks her bill...

In this interview we welcome Senator Susan Rubio of the 22nd Senate district. Senator Rubio joins us to discuss her background, why she ran for California senate, covid, and her legislative priorities for this upcoming session. We begin by discussing her background as an undocumented immigrant who was deportetd, how the education system in two state failed her family and caused immense trauma to h...

Today we welcome Alex Vassar, former legislative staffer, current California State Library employee and prolific California state political history tweeter to the program. They begin by discussing the CA Library, what it does and how it has responded to covid. The conversation then turns to Alex’s journey to the Capitol, working as a legislative staffer, and the history of legislative staffers and...

This week we welcome back Senator Bob Archuleta of the 32nd Senate District, which covers southeastern LA county. We discuss working on state campaigns during covid, and how his paired down legislative package of five bills were all passed into law. We discuss the details of all five bills, then advice for incoming senators on how he chose his staff, priorities for the next term including his beli...

Today we welcome Jim Wunderman the President and CEO of the Bay Area Council. The Bay Area Council is a business association in San Francisco , founded in 1945, and dedicated to economic development in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jim takes up through his personal history and then the history of the Bay Area Council, including the building of BART. Then the conversation turns to COVID, the cyclical...

In this episode we welcome Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula of AD31. Dr. Joaquin Arambula represents Fresno and west Fresno County. He is an emergency room doctor and son of former Assemblymember Juan Arambula. We discuss his recent legislative victory and what he has learned about campaigning during covid. Then the discussion turns to healthcare: specifically covid, telehealth and future of health...

Today we welcome Carmela Coyle, the CEO of the California Hospital Association. She discusses her background in health policy, then segues to an in depth discussion of health policy in California. We discuss how CA is a microcosm of the United States, how covid has affected the hospital system by increasing workloads and decreasing revenue, and how CA needs to plan for the future with both healthc...

Today our interview is with Lance Hasting of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association. The conversation begins with his background in the legislature and trade associations, and the history of the CMTA. Then the conversation turned to manufacturing in CA, focusing initially on safelymade.org, which organized PPE supplies and distributors across CA. He then discusses the impact of co...

Another special Wednesday episode: this one dedicated to voting in CA. Today we hear from Senator Tom Umberg, chair of the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee. He’s an expert on voting in CA, he has been elected in two different decades to both the CA Assembly and Senate, and chaired the elections committee in the Assembly in 2008 which determined there were no problems with m...

Today’s guest is April Verrett, the President of the SEIU, Local 2015. Local 2015 represents 400,000 long term care workers across CA, the largest local union in CA, the largest long term care union in the US, and 2nd largest union in the SEIU. We start by discussing her background organizing hospital workers in Chicago. Then the conversation focuses on long term care in CA, how her membership far...