Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Steve Wertheim

No. 43. Steve Wertheim

A lot of folks claimed credit for last year’s CEQA reform, the first major changes in the law’s history. But insiders give copious credit to Steve Wertheim, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ top advisor on housing issues. Wertheim was the person tasked with brokering high-level negotiations between a full suite of stakeholders, including the governor, legislative leaders, construction unions, labor unions, environmental groups, pro-business groups, tribal interests, YIMBYs, NIMBYs and probably a few more we’ve left out. The result was a reform he had significant influence over, and that success has most definitely carried over to this year as well. These days, no housing measure Wicks is involved in happens without Wertheim also being there. He is an integral part of his boss’s new Assembly Select Committee on Housing Construction Innovation, which is exploring all kinds of regulatory changes that could have an even bigger impact on reducing California’s vexing housing shortage. Previous to his time in the Capitol he spent a dozen years as a planner for the city of San Francisco, which perhaps explains how he was prepared to take on this level of stress.

Updated August 11, 2026