Capitol Weekly Podcast

Today we welcome CalMatters' new editor in chief, Kristen Go, who joined the newsroom at the very end of May. Go has big shoes to fill: founding editor Dave Lesher took the organization from fledgling start up to public media behemoth in eight short years; now CalMatters is seen by many as the 800 pound gorilla of California political news. (Does that make Capitol Weekly the chimp? Nevermind.) Go...

Sacramento political communications expert Roger Salazar has deep roots in Democratic politics: he was the press secretary for Governor Gray Davis and, deputy press secretary for Vice President Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, and assistant press secretary in the Office of President Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1999. But Salazar has even deeper roots in the off-roading/Jeeper community: The earl...

Prior to his appointment as California State Librarian in 2014, Greg Lucas was a longtime journalist, covering California politics for The Los Angeles Daily Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle and even Capitol Weekly. Much of his 20 year run at The Chron was spent in or around the Capitol, covering the legislature or the Governor, or kibitzing with other reporters. Oh, how things have changed. If...

Staffers, journalists and even lobbyists can get confused trying to understand the very specific processes and deadlines guiding the signing - or veto - of a bill, by the Governor. How long does the Governor have to sign or veto a bill? Does the 12 day timeline include weekends and holidays? When does the 30-day timeline start? And what happens when the Legislature adjourns? Our guest today answer...

Facing the first deficit in a decade, legislators finished hammering out a Budget deal with the governor this week. While the final document (as it stands now, trailer bills and tweaks notwithstanding) does not feature the catastrophic cuts some had feared, funding for some of Gov. Newsom's high priority projects did see reductions, including funds aimed at reducing homelessness and supporting the...

The California Legislature currently has the highest proportion of women in the state's history: 50 of 120 legislators are women. While that percentage is impressive compared to the paltry 27 women in the California legislature after the 2016 election, it pales in comparison to some other states, including neighboring Nevada, in which women make up the majority of legislators in both houses. Susan...

On May 19, Governor Newsom offered a series of proposals to revise the California Environmental Quality Act ( CEQA). The 1970 law was intended to limit unintended consequences of development, but has increasingly been used to slow or derail environmentally-positive projects ranging from infill development to solar installations. Reforming CEQA has long been a priority in Sacramento, and Newsom's p...

On Thursday, May 25, Capitol Weekly presented a conference examining California’s climate goals – specifically the plan to move beyond gas-powered vehicles. This episode was recorded live at ROADMAP 2035: Cars, Carbon and Climate Change – How Do We Meet California’s Zero Emissions Goals? on Thursday, May 25, 2023, in Sacramento. This episode presents Panel 3 - The Future vs. The Past: The Impact o...

On Thursday, May 25, Capitol Weekly presented a conference examining California’s climate goals – specifically the plan to move beyond gas-powered vehicles. This episode was recorded live at ROADMAP 2035: Cars, Carbon and Climate Change – How Do We Meet California’s Zero Emissions Goals? on Thursday, May 25, 2023, in Sacramento. This episode presents the Keynote, with California Public Utilities C...

On Thursday, May 25, Capitol Weekly presented a conference examining California’s climate goals – specifically the plan to move beyond gas-powered vehicles. This episode was recorded live at ROADMAP 2035: Cars, Carbon and Climate Change – How Do We Meet California’s Zero Emissions Goals? on Thursday, May 25, 2023, in Sacramento. This episode presents Panel 2 - What Now: Timelines and Implementatio...

On Thursday, May 25, Capitol Weekly presented a conference examining California’s climate goals – specifically the plan to move beyond gas-powered vehicles. This episode was recorded live at ROADMAP 2035: Cars, Carbon and Climate Change – How Do We Meet California’s Zero Emissions Goals? on Thursday, May 25, 2023, in Sacramento. This episode presents Panel 1 - The Technology: How We Get There. By...

Got a two-fer this week: First we speak with Rhonda Smith , the Executive Director of the California Black Health Network. We spoke with Smith about the state of Black health in California, including a look at how the Fentanyl crisis is impacting the Black community. Next up, we bring you an expanded "Suspense File" edition of our Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics feature. We were join...

We are joined today by Ken Oliver, Executive Director of Checkr.org, the philanthropic arm of Checkr, a tech firm that is working to reinvent the background check, "making the process fairer through education, and eliminating human bias." Oliver knows firsthand the struggles that formerly incarcerated people face upon re-entry to society: sentenced to life in prison in 1997 under California's Thre...

It's no secret that communicable diseases can have dramatically different impacts on different groups; elderly people, for example, saw the worst effects of COVID, with a death rate far beyond California's average. Black Californians also had higher mortality rates from the disease.  What of California's LGBTQ community?  The truth is, we don't know.  SB 932, a 2020 bill inspired by concerns about...

In this week’s Capitol Weekly podcast CW’s Rich Ehisen is joined by frequent contributor Dan Morain and Washington Bureau Chief of RealClearPolitics and Executive Editor of RealClear Media Grou, Carl Cannon. The trio discusses the impact of President Joe Biden’s announcement to run for a second term on a host of ambitious California politicos, from Kamala Harris and Kevin McCarthy in Washington D....

The only thing denizens of the California Capitol love more than talking politics is eating good grub. With that in mind, our guest today is Carney King, the man behind the very popular new Twitter feed Culinary Caucus. Carney's mission is to find the best food and, more important, the best food deals around the Capitol area. Then we welcome back an old friend to offer his insights into who had th...

The landmark Lanterman-Petris-Short Act of 1967 was intended to to “end the inappropriate, indefinite, and involuntary commitment of persons with mental health disorders” by setting strict guidelines for handling the involuntary civil commitment of individuals to mental health institutions. While lauded by civil rights advocates, critics contend the law is actually an impediment to care for those...

Friend of the Pod Bill Wong joins us to chat about his new book, Better to Win . Wong, a renowned strategist to a bevy of major California Democrats, provides candid and occasionally Machiavellian advice to those who aspire not only to fight for justice, but to win those fights. Wong's story is filled with names familiar to followers of California politics, and gives the fascinating backstory to p...

Heading into recess, hosts Rich Ehisen and Tim Foster look back on a historic week chock full of political news: the Trump indictment, the governor's oil price-gouging bill SBx1-2, the Campaign for Democracy, emissions standards and OH SO MANY candidates for the Worst Week in California Politics. :23 WILD 1:04 Trump indicted 3:42 How social media played into the news cycle 5:53 Trump fatigue 7:06...

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom released a proposal for a $3 billion bond measure aimed at the 2024 ballot, to fund housing for people with severe mental illness. At the same time, Newsom asked the legislature to revise 2004's Proposition 63 - which enacted a 1% on individuals with earnings of $1 million or more, used to help people with mental illness - to help provide more money for housing the men...

We're back with a regular episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast. California political data guru Paul Mitchell joined us to talk about surprising voting patterns and registration numbers following California's aggressive voter registration push under the past two Secretaries of State. Who's voting, who isn't, and why. And, how is the 2024 Senate race shaping up? Plus - Who had the Worst Week in Cal...

This Special Episode was recorded Thursday, March 9, 2023 at Capitol Weekly's Conference on Housing, which was held live in Sacramento at the California Endowment Conference Center. Panel 3: The State of the Rental Market. Panelists: Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh; Asm. Alex Lee; Debra Carlton, California Apartment Association; Alex Lantsberg, State Building and Construction Trades Council; Shanti S...

This Special Episode was recorded Thursday, March 9, 2023 at Capitol Weekly's Conference on Housing, which was held live in Sacramento at the California Endowment Conference Center. Panel 2: Affordable Housing. The second panel of the day explores the issue of Affordable Housing. Panelists: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, Mayor of Alameda; Peter Cohen, Sacramento Housing Alliance; Chione Lucina Muñoz Flega...

This Special Episode was recorded Thursday, March 9, 2023 at Capitol Weekly's Conference on Housing, which was held live in Sacramento at the California Endowment Conference Center. Keynote: Asm. Buffy Wicks in conversation with Hannah Wiley of the Los Angeles Times Assemblymember Buffy Wicks is a key voice in any discussion of California housing policy, Wicks represents the East Bay in the Califo...

This Special Episode was recorded Thursday, March 9, 2023 at Capitol Weekly's Conference on Housing, which was held live in Sacramento at the California Endowment Conference Center. Panel 1: Office to Housing Conversion. The first panel of the day examines the proposal to convert offices to housing. Panelists: Danny Curtin, California Conference of Carpenters; Dan Dunmoyer, California Building Ind...