SacTown Talks

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 her twin brother, and how it sparked her passion for teaching, and eventually politics. Then we discuss her work on Early Childhood Education, including upcoming collaboration with other legislators, and her groundbreaking domestic violence legislation to extend the laws to cover coercive control and not just physical violence.

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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 the Capital Fellows programs. He and Jarhett then compare the disruption of covid to previous disruption of routine capitol life, including the Spanish Flu, a coup against the Assembly speaker and constant construction. Finally they finish talking about the library's COVID Diaries project, which is collecting stories about experiences during the pandemic from around the state.

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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 belief that small business relief should be a priority. We end with his Thanksgiving charitable efforts and a discussion of how Governor Newsom has great options of who to appoint to replace Vice President-Elect Harris.

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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 nature of the economy in the Bay Area, the nature of the housing crisis and how to fix it. Finally Jim discusses trips to China to observe their building, plans for a larger region council, and how the demise of California is very overstated. 

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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 healthcare in CA. He explains how his father tried to talk him out of running and why he feels he can do more to help underserved and low income Californians serving in the legislature than seeing patients one at a time.

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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 healthcare for all CA and increased capacity for CA hospitals. We also discuss covid testing, flu shots and why this isn’t the right time to focus on seismic retrofitting. 

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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 covid on manufacturing, regulation in CA, and how we need to adapt for climate change. Finally he discusses the upcoming election, and how CMTA  companies are all technology companies.  

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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 mail in or absentee voting. We discuss voting security in CA, how voting in person will be safe during covid, and how we should expect a voting period over a voting day. We also discuss his background as a federal prosecutor, what it was like in the Assembly before term limits, and why racist poll watchers got him to run for office in the first place.

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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 fared during the budget, and the composition of the union. They then discuss how the union is focused on the November election both nationally and statewide. The conversation finishes about priorities for 2021 and how to fight covid in a way that’s safe for long term care workers and patients, and what makes the SEIU different.

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We welcome Mary Creasman of the League of Conservation Voters to the show. The League is the oldest grassroots environmental organization in the United State with the goal of building political power for the people and the planet. We start by discussing the history of the League and her personal history with environmental justice and labor organizing. Then she discusses the intersection between climate change, racial and social justice, and job growth for the 21st century. She also explains that Governor Newson’s executive orders are significant but the legislature must follow up with new legislation, how voter understand the importance of climate change, and what the League’s goals.

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