Capitol Weekly Podcast

On the podcast we often joke about our "very special guests" but legendary California lobbyist Paula Treat truly fits the bill. Treat was one of our very first, and one of our most frequent, guests on the Capitol Weekly Podcast. Next week she will be inducted into the Top 100 Hall of Fame, so we invited her to talk about her Hall of Fame-worthy career, and about the other members of the Class of 2026: Allan Zaremberg, Bob White, Scott Lay, Robbie Hunter and Carmela Coyle.

:20 The Top 100 is coming

3:02 Capitol Briefs

3:20 Return to Office Podcast comments

9:00 Next week's episode publishes Tuesday night

9:50 Crime fiction

15:56 Chris Shary shout out

17:39 Paula Treat

18:56 The Barracuda Award

20:48 Straight shooter

22:57 A different era

23:43 George Skelton Oral History

25:37 Big changes

29:03 Big issues this year?

33:33 The Top 100 Hall of Fame

33:53 Allan Zaremberg

35:57 Bob White

40:43 Scott Lay

48:04 Robbie Hunter

52:40 Carmela Coyle

1:00:07 #WWCA

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State employees returning to Downtown Sacramento following Gov. Newsom's Return-To-Office order are finding a vastly different universe from the vibrant metro area of 2019, the last time Sacramento food writer Becky Grunewald was on the Podcast. Many longtime lunch and coffee favorites have closed, moved, or offer only limited hours. She joined us to talk about some current lunch options for the Downtown crowd, and other highlights of the local food scene.  Plus, as always, we tell you Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics.

1:18 Rising Star: Annika Bjork

1:48 Experts Expound: Gavin Newsom's legacy

2:10 Proposition 40

4:45 Becky Grunewald

6:05 Five picks for Abridged

7:05 Drunken Tortilla

8:28 Buddah Bowls and Rolls

9:03 CalPERS Cafeteria

9:36 Capitol Weekly article on Capitol favorites

12:20 Mother (RIP)

13:42 Pizza Supreme Being

15:05 Buffalo Pizza's breakfast pizza

16:47 Sapha Kafae

18:40 My Sister's Cafe

21:59 Jimboys

24:58 Sal's Tacos

26:00 Whitey's Jolly Kone

26:47 The Sunflower Drive-In

28:45 DoorDash

32:32 Stockton detour: Manny's California Fresh

34:20 Sacramento burgers

41:12 WWCA

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Today we welcome author, environmental attorney and pro-democracy activist, Gary Lucks, whose new book “We Are the Power,” is a how-to guide for community activists.  As the founder of two East Bay progressive groups he has built one of California' most active grassroots networks, and helped raise millions of dollars, delivering critical support to Democrats in swing districts across the country.  Lucks spoke with us about why he wrote the book, what the Democrats need to do to find their way out of the wilderness, and what to make of the Left-Moderate  split that threatens to tear the party apart.

1:20 AI Bills in #caleg

1:53 A look at the Billionaire Tax

2:45 Op Ed Policy

7:43 The Top 100

9:19 Jonesin' For a Cure

12:44 Gary Lucks

15:57 Focus of "We Are the Power"

19:16 "The circular firing squad"

22:06 50 Shades of Blue

26:35 Tea Party populism vs. Democratic populist movement

33:14 The age issue

40:12 How to reconnect with MAGA

44:11 Where to find the book

45:15 #WWCA

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

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Today we welcome Ahmad Thomas, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, an association that represents hundreds of technology and innovation companies in the birthplace of the computer revolution. Thomas joined SVLG in 2020 and has overseen his organization's efforts to encourage Sacramento to implement thoughtful AI policies that won't "stifle innovation." He is no stranger to legislative oversight -Thomas got his start as an aide to Senator Dianne Feinstein, an experience he cites as the foundation of his career. 

4:46 Labor shortages in law enforcement

5:38 Ahmad Thomas

6:40 How was the year for tech?

9:04 The legislature

14:32 "You can't eat GDP"

19:00 How are perceptions of AI changing?

21:02 Municipal governments and AI

22:00 Data centers

24:44 Origin story

29:13 Maintaining Silicon Valley's competitive edge

37:13 Anti-tech backlash

47:25 #WWCA

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Chelsea Haines is the Director of State Regulatory Relations at the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), the largest statewide coalition of public water agencies in the country.  ACWA's 470 public agency members are responsible for 90% of the water delivered to cities, farms and businesses in California. Haines joined us to talk about ACWA's vision for California's future as climate change pushes our water resources to the limit. 

3:05 Op Ed Weekly

5:33 Chelsea Haines

7:18 Vision for our water future

13:28 Housing

14:53 Urban-rural divide

18:01 Water rights'

20:03 Conversations with gubernatorial candidates

23:18 Infrastructure

30:14 Sites Reservoir

31:11 #WWCA

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Sometimes it seems like bipartisanship has gone the way of the dinosaur, the Dodo Bird and $3 gasoline, but Assemblymembers Heather Hadwick (R) and Patrick Ahrens (D) are doing their best to keep the dream alive. While the two come from dramatically different districts with  distinct priorities (AD01 and AD26, the two bonded over their shared childhood experiences with the Head Start program, and have teamed on legislation to support California children. They sat down with us to talk about their shared priorities, and where they have to differ (Grizzly Bears, cough cough). Plus - Who had the Worst Week in California Politics.

1:22 Tattoos

6:45 The Close the Gap Caucus

8:31 Billionaire tax and other Ballot Measures

12:27 Assemblymembers Heather Hadwick and Patrick Ahrens - Head Start

17:58 issues with bipartisanship

21:34 Relationships

25:05 Wildfires don't care about Assembly districts

26:13 Impact of the budget

28:33 Electric school busses

31:10 Origin stories

36:32 End of year priorities

40:26 Reintroduction of Grizzly Bears into California

41:37 3WWCA

Want to support the Capitol Weekly Podcast? Make your tax deductible donation here: capitolweekly.net/donations/

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

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The Capitol Weekly crew - Rich Ehisen, Leah O'Tarrow and Tim Foster - look at the California Primary.  How did Proposition 50 impact the races, what did billionaires get for their money, and will the generation gap be a defining factor in November? Plus, Who had the Worst Week in California Politics?

1:01 What we know about the Primary

1:57 Tom Steyer's ad blast

3:13 Counting the votes

7:38 The Bradley Effect

8:26 Dem consolidation behind Becerra

11:47 "Having seen Steve Hilton on the stump, he is very good at what he does"

12:51 The Matsui - Vang race

15:07 Age

21:16 "They want the trains to run on time"

22:45 Impact of Prop. 50

24:48 Spencer Pratt

29:00 The anarchist vote

30:35 "Dan Sullivan"

34:55 Dave Regan and the billionaire tax

40:55 Ballot measures

43:41 Insurance Commissioner's race

45:03 Lt. Governor's race

49:06 #WWCA

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

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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

Want to support the Capitol Weekly Podcast? Make your tax deductible donation here: capitolweekly.net/donations/

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

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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?

Want to support the Capitol Weekly Podcast? Make your tax deductible donation here: capitolweekly.net/donations/

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

"#WorstWeekCA" Beat provided by freebeats.io

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