Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Margie Estrada

54. Margie Estrada

One of the bigger changes around the Capitol in recent years has been the growing power of the Judicial committees. This has been a particular case in the Senate, where the committee has had such luminaries as John Burton, Bill Lockyer and Adam Schiff as chair. As chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee for the last seven years, Margie Estrada has to oversee all the bill analyses, which is a key factor in getting bills heard. While Margie is politically to the left of the current chair, centrist Sen. Tom Umberg, he leans on her and cares deeply about her opinion on almost every bill. As one source told us, “you cannot deal with the Senate Judiciary Committee without fully taking stock of Margie Estrada.” As such, she has been referred to as “the Kip Lipper of legal issues in the Capitol.” She earned a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from UC Berkeley and her law degree from UCLA. She has also been principal consultant to former Senate pro Tems Darrell Steinberg and Kevin de León.