We're joined today by Commissioner Nancy Skinner. Skinner is serving her first term on the California Energy Commission after serving as

a state senator at the California State Senate from 2016 to 2024 and as a member of the California State Assembly from 2008 to 2014.  if Skinner is a newbie to the CEC, she is no stranger to energy policy issues, having authored AB 2514 which created requirements for electrical corporations to implement energy storage systems. If you have noticed that the state now has less "rolling" blackouts, AB 2514 is a big part of the reason why. She spoke with us about the Trump Administration's opposition to California's climate goals, the challenges (and opportunities) presented by Data Centers, and her landmark Name Image and Likeness legislation, SB 206, which changed college sports across the country.

And, with the Primary behind us, a long list of candidates for Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics.

3:59 E bike bills

5:36 Nancy Skinner

7:38 Art Rosenfeld

10:01 California's climate goals

11:09 "Texas is ahead of us"

13:52 Data Centers

16:27 The multi-state grid

18:43 The Federal position

24:13 Energy costs in the campaign for governor

28:36 Name Image and License legislation

36:51 Title IX

37:41 Energy storage bill

39:29 #WWCA

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Our guest today is Steve Frisch, President and CEO of the Sierra Business Council (SBC) and a founding member of the Wildfire Solutions Coalition. With the devastating impacts of wildfire becoming more evident with each fire season, the Coalition advocates for funding and implementation of wildfire resilience strategies. While acknowledging California's budget woes, he argues that preventing fires will save the state money, and that "this is not the year we should be reducing wildfire funding." 

3:17 Steve Frisch

5:42 About the Wildfire Solutions Coalition

8:50 Getting past partisanship in wildfire policy

12:33 Funding challenges

16:16 "This is not the year we should be reducing wildfire funding"

16:52 Insurance

18:32 From San Francisco kitchens to Truckee NGO

25:06 Hidden gems in Truckee

27:17 Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics?

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California's Top Two Primary, also known as a Jungle Primary, was approved by voters as Proposition 14 in 2010. Prop. 14 was promoted by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado and endorsed by most major newspapers as a way to lessen partisanship and reduce gridlock by encouraging compromise. (We'll leave it to readers to decide if it has had the desired effect.) official opposition to Top Two was wide, if not deep: All of the state's registered political parties, from GOP to Greens, were opposed, as were organizations as diverse as the California State Firefighters, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the United Nurses Associations. The Amendment passed by 8 points.

Sixteen years later, California voters are beginning to sour on Top Two. Fears of a GOP - or Democratic - lockout in this year's race for governor have led many to call for a change. Recent polling by Capitol Weekly found the 79% of respondents wanted to revise or repeal the jungle primary.  Longtime Democratic consultant Steve Maviglio has heeded that call, filing a ballot initiative proposing to repeal Prop. 14. Maviglio is no newcomer to this fight - he led the opposition to the 2010 amendment. He joins us today to talk about the race for governor, the legacy of the Top Two and why it needs to change.

:34 Op-eds

5:21 Polling on Top Two

7:32 Steve Maviglio

10:10 A problem for smaller parties

10:58 Could Republicans be shut out in November?

12:27 Top Two has not worked as advertised

13:43 Other options? Ranked Choice Voting?

14:28 The opposition: Steve Peace and the Independent Voter Project

17:29 Paid influencers

21:18 Will this campaign be relevant in 2028?

25:37 What about nonpartisan elections?

30:04 Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics?

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Our guest today is Emmy Award winning journalist, producer, documentary filmmaker and podcaster Soledad O'Brien. O'Brien got her start in broadcast TV in 1991, and has held a wide variety of positions, ranging from on-air reporter, to anchor, to producer. Her work has been recognized with four Emmy awards, three George Foster Peabody Awards; she has also received the Gracie Award, which honors women in media.  O'Brien joined us to talk about the state of journalism today. 

:58 The final debate

3:17 Paul Mitchell shout out

5:05 Ballot initiative to eliminate Top Two

13:28 What's new at Capitol Weekly

14:59 Soledad O'Brien

16:00 The state of media

19:26 Approval rating of mainstream media

24:36 "Vast right wing conspiracy"

26:47 Bias

29:58 The 24 hour news cycle

31:20 "I think audiences are smarter than we give them credit for"

36:04 Roots

44:27 Financial literacy advocacy

47:04 Starfish Media

53:11 #WWCA

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Jeff Randle has been one of the Capitol community’s go-to political campaign strategists for decades. He has been a top advisor on five gubernatorial campaigns as well as serving as deputy chief of staff to Gov. Pete Wilson from 1991-1998. This year his firm Randle Communications celebrates its 25th anniversary so we figured it was a great time to have him joins us to share his perspectives on this year’s gubernatorial races and perhaps to share a war story or two.

3:55 Jeff Randle

4:55 “Chaotic” gubernatorial campaign year

5:49 Dramatic campaign spending

7:00 Advertising in evolving media landscape

10:50 “Boring used to not be such a detriment"

12:02 Paying micro influencers?

13:33 “There’s going to be 50 governor's races between now and the primary.”

17:07 Evolution of Republican candidates

21:45 Importance of endorsements in modern campaigns

27:39 “A wild ride” - 25 years of Randle Communications 

31:42 Arnold’s campaign

36:24 Advice for the modern media landscape

39:50 Worst Year in California Politics 

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Affordability has become the buzziest of buzzwords around the California Capitol and beyond. It

has become a major talking point for lawmakers, candidates for every office and even a certain

governor with lofty ambitions beyond the Golden State. On this week’s podcast we share a lively

and very candid discussion on affordability between two of the Capitol community’s most

notable members – longtime political strategist, author and commentator Mike Madrid and

former Assemblymember and current president of the California Federation of Labor Unions

Lorena Gonzalez.

1:15 Introductions

2:00 Thoughts on the gubernatorial primary in terms of affordability

6:45 Insinuated promises

10:30 “There is no monopoly on good or bad ideas.”

15:37 “How many of these things are actually within their control?”

21:20 A lot of things could help

22:30 “In the digital age the most valuable commodity we have is our data”

26:21 “The old model doesn’t work”

29:15 Billionaire tax 

36:20 Thoughts on the Insurance Commissioners race

41:30 Audience question - Responsibility of Labor in effecting affordability?

46:40 Audience question - Is this issue going to go away anytime soon?

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Our guest is Darcy Totten, Executive Director at the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. The Commission on the Status of Women was established by the legislature in 1965 for the purpose of developing recommendations “which will enable women to make the maximum contribution to society.” In 1971 Governor Reagan made the Commission a permanent, independent agency. Totten joined us to talk about the history of the organization, the challenges women and girls face today and what the future might look like.

1:04 Telematics story

2:04 Cardroom regulations and impact on local governments

3:13 Affordability

8:40 Darcy Totten

11:41 Temperature check

15:09 The federal picture

18:17 Radical solidarity

21:01 The Girls' Agenda

26:15 'How do you bake gender equity into every system?"

30:33 What about the CA legislature?

36:05 Regulating AI or social media

38:07 "Sometimes you need the bigger change"

44:59 Statewide blueprint

45:44 #WWCA

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Most folks rightly recognize the New Deal as the collection of Great Depression-era government programs implemented under the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930s. But there is another much more current NewDEAL out there as well, an organization that just turned 15 years old focused on bringing together center-left politicos from around the country with the specific goal of addressing and finding solutions for some of the country's most pressing problems. NewDEAL CEO Debbie Cox Bultan has spent more than three decades in Democratic politics and public policy, including 15 years at the Democratic Leadership Council, including serving as National Political Director and Chief of Staff, helping shape strategy for state and local elected officials across the country.

We spoke with her on today's show about NewDEAL and her work with leaders like San José Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Matt Mahan and Senator Alex Padilla, as well as a national network of leaders focused on pragmatic economic policy and opportunity. 

2:30 Capitol Weekly Interns Jasleen Kaur & Chris Ramirez

7:25 Profiles on Assemblymembers Lurie Davies & Jessica Caloza

11:30 Debbie Cox Bultan

12:58 “The best kept secret in Washington”

15:15 What makes a NewDEAL leader?

17:25 What does joining NewDEAL offer?

21:52 “Democrats are going to to have to stand for something”

25:54 Focusing on kitchen table issues

28:17 “Democrats need to provide an on-ramp”

29:27 How did you get into this work?

30:57 A labor of love

33:02 "Politics is so disconnected from the reality of life”

37:25 An honorable profession

41:45 “They want something that’s going to deliver a result”

44:00 #WWCA

52:25 Affordability Conference

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There was an old ad slogan for a well-known brokerage firm: When EF Hutton talks, people listen. The sentiment survives today, with a slight modification: When Fiona Hutton talks, people listen. Fiona Hutton runs one of the state's preeminent public affairs firms, with a score of employees handling strategic planning, research & insights, media relations and more for a host of high-powered clients. Fiona Hutton and Associates celebrates their 25th anniversary this year, and Hutton joined us to talk about her early years as a one-woman (and a baby) shop,  what it's like to do this work in LA, and the challenges of being a woman in this business.  Plus - Who Had the Worst Week in CA Politics. (You might have a guess....)

1:15 Affordability

4:05 Capitol Briefs

4:51 Asm. Jessica Caloza

5:07 Experts Expound

5:43 Fiona Hutton

7:45 90% of businesses in California are small businesses

8:50 In the beginning

10:16 "My water broke on a conference call with a client"

12:55 What does a public affairs firm do?

16:46 What is it like being a woman in this space?

20:13 Generational approach

26:06 "Do not look at your to-do list - go check on your team first"

26:52 What has changed in 25 years?

28:54 Working in LA

35:26 "There is no down-shifting"

38:35 What next?

40:52 #WWCA

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Today's guest is Sacramento Bee reporter Lia Russell. Russell covers the governor for The Bee’s Capitol Bureau, and was part of the team that broke the story of Dana Williamson's arrest last year.  We asked about that story, covering the capitol, and what it was like to cover politics in their earlier gigs in Bangor, Maine and Baltimore, Maryland. 

:47 Affordability

2:00 What's on Capitol Weekly

4:16 Lia Russell

6:09 The race to replace Gov. Newsom

8:20 "Whether they like it or not..."

10:15 View from Maine

16:37 Working for the Baltimore Sun

18:37 The Dana Williamson story

23:45 Reading indictments

26:16 Origin story

32:04 The tattoos

33:43 Asm. Matt Harper mention

38:06 #WWCA

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Capitol Weekly Podcast theme is "Pickin' My Way" by Eddie Lang

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