Experts Expound
The latest question posed to our panel of experts: “Should there be a hard limit on the number of committees a legislator can serve on?”
Lobbying
A little more than three dozen large, stable lobbying firms dominate the Capitol market. According to lobbying disclosures filed through the fifth quarter of the current cycle, the top 40 firms analyzed by Capitol Weekly received 57% of the more than $436 million spent on lobbying firms in 2025 and 2026.
Micheli Files
With the final weeks of Session upon us, several procedural items that regularly occur on the Floors of the California Legislature may be in order. Today intrepid Capitol lobbyist, law professor and regular Capitol Weekly contributor Chris Micheli offers insights into understanding the session’s closing moments.
News
Xavier Becerra outraised his Republican opponent for governor by more than two to one in donations of $1,000 or more during the first half of August, as Sacramento’s inside players continued betting heavily on the Democratic frontrunner to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.
News
I don’t have to tell anyone this is an election year. Between last November’s special election, the June primary and the impending mid-terms this fall, the winds of change – or not, depending on how a few things roll out – are everywhere. All of this is reflected in this year’s Top 100 list, and will assuredly be in the future. Because in this world change is the only constant.
Opinion
SB 947 impacts regular tools small-business owners use every day to save time and money.
Opinion
California has long sought to lead the nation in protecting immigrant communities. That leadership is being tested.
News
If it wasn’t before, a California initiative to tighten voting requirements became nationalized when Illinois billionaire Richard Uihlein, one of President Donald J. Trump’s large donors, contributed $6.5 million to the Yes-on-Proposition 39 campaign.
California Death Row. Photo by the Associated Press. 
